A Priestess and Her Guardian
by ShiinaAoi
Summary: [AU] Years ago, Soun, a forest spirit, gave up his powers to wed a human. But when his youngest daughter falls gravely ill, Soun returns to the forest and begs the current guardian, Genma, to save her. He agrees but on one condition: when Akane comes of age, she will serve as priestess to his heir, Ranma. [Ranma/Akane, some Akane/Ranko]
1. Contract

**A/N:** Hello, welcome to my first Ranma fic! I've been a long time lover of this fandom but never had the inspiration to write anything for it until just recently. I really shouldn't start a new fic with two still unfinished, but it's too sad to crush a muse isn't it? I wrote this quite quickly last night so excuse any errors, hehe. Hope you enjoy!

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 **Prologue: Contract**

Soun Tendo stared helplessly as his youngest daughter writhed upon the futon. Her skin was pale and sticky from all the sweat, her breaths so labored and awful it seemed as if her tiny body would give out any minute now.

"My poor Akane," he whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers, almost as if hoping some of the pain would travel to him – anything to lessen her suffering.

A deadly plague had swept through their village and claimed his beloved wife only a few weeks prior. Scarce had he and his family time to grieve before Akane began showing symptoms of the same, terrible affliction. The threat that his youngest daughter would too succumb to the same fate… no, he could not even begin to bear the thought!

She was strong though, he thought with a small spark of pride. For someone so young the sickness should have claimed her a long time ago, but her spirit refused to yield. She was putting up a formidable fight, but deep down he knew she was still too young and the strength would not hold for much longer. But what could he do? He had to buy her time... but how?

"Daddy?" the screen door slid open and a small voice piped up in the dark, "Is Akane any better?"

"Kasumi! Nabiki!" Soun barked and immediately leapt up to slam the door shut. His other two daughters yelped in surprise.

"A-Ah, sorry," he murmured, his body still shaking slightly from shock, "I told you two not to come near here, remember? The sickness is very contagious, what would happen if you two also got sick?"

"B-But," Nabiki sniffled, "You're in there too, daddy! Won't you get sick?"

Soun struggled to find an answer. Yes, technically, a normal person in such close proximity to the afflicted would surely fall ill too… but he wasn't a normal person. In fact, Soun was not entirely a "person" at all, so he could not be afflicted with the same ailments that befell mortals.

Yet, despite his divine origins, there was nothing he could do for his youngest daughter. He had relinquished such powers years ago, when he fell in love with their mother.

"Is there anything we can do?" Kasumi called softly.

No, there was nothing.

It killed him inside to acknowledge such a wretched fact. He had promised he would protect them, didn't he? And yet he had watched powerlessly as the love of his life wasted away before his eyes. Then, with scarcely enough time for the grief to set in, his youngest was now threatened by the same cursed sickness.

Akane let out another frail cough, staining her pillow crimson with blood. Soun felt the dread seizing at his heart. No… please, don't let this happen…!

He grit his teeth as he listened to Akane suffer through another fit.

There had to be something he could do. Anything! He had sworn up and down on his wife's deathbed he would take care of their children. How could live with himself if he broke that promise?

More blood stained the once pristine, white pillow.

There had to be something...

Soun paused in realization.

Well, there was something...

But did he dare even try? Would they even let him?

Many years ago, Soun had been the guardian spirit over the forest of Nerima and the villagers who resided within its grounds. He had protected the forest and maintained his duties faithfully every day for many years, until the day he met the mortal woman who was to become his future wife and mother to his children. He had hardly known how or when it started, but what began as an innocent curiosity grew into a love deeper than anything he could scarce begin to describe. While he had the ability to visit her in the physical world, she lacked the ability to connect with the ethereal realm upon which he resided. So, against the wills of everyone around him, he abandoned his titles, his duties, his friends, and everything he had known before to enter the mortal realm and be with the woman who so strongly captured his heart.

He had retained some of his powers for a time, but the longer he spent in the mortal world disconnected from the spirit realm, the more his powers began to fade until he essentially resembled the mortals he lived among.

As a consequence for his actions, however, he had been barred from returning to the forest and from calling upon the spirit realm as he was now a traitor. His actions had been a dishonor against not only his position but those he served. If he ever re-entered the forest, he risked being captured and made to answer for his actions, or worse...

But what did that all matter when Akane's life was on the line? He would gladly face imprisonment 1000 years over if it meant his little girl's life would be saved.

No, he wouldn't sit idly by any longer. There _was_ something he could do, one last place he could turn – laws of nature be damned. Call him selfish, arrogant, or a traitor; he was not going to let another one of his precious family die without a fight.

Without another word, Soun scooped Akane up and bolted out the room, past his two confused daughters, and into the dark forest.

Elsewhere, a woman stood before a clear pool of water, watching the scene with concern etched deeply upon her beautiful, gentle features. She held in her arms a small, sleeping child, swaddled warmly in a bundle of richly embroidered cloth and completely oblivious to the events transpiring before him. Seeing how the young girl was suffering pulled at the strings in her heart. Poor thing… she looked no older than her little Ranma… Beside her stood a man of strong, stocky build, clothed in simple hakama and gi.

"Dear," the woman whispered anxiously, "Is there not anything you can do to help?"

"Nodoka," the man replied sternly, "There is nothing we can do. You know as well as I that we cannot interfere with such matters at will."

"There must be something! You are the forest spirit after all! Anything can be done so long as you command it! Oh, I can't bear to see him like this, and that little girl... she's fighting so hard…"

Genma was not moved and continued to regard the scene with a grave expression. It tore him to pieces too, seeing his old friend in such a helpless state. Soun had been such a strong, noble spirit. Genma couldn't imagine what kind of suffering he had been through to reduce him to such a state.

Indeed he had the power to save Soun's daughter, but as the forest spirit he could not wield said power however he wished when it came to aiding mortals. There was a process to these things, a set of rituals and exchanges that must be offered before anything could occur. But because of his past transgressions, Soun had been barred from performing these rituals for risk of exposing himself once more to the spirit realm, which would then compel Genma to fulfill his duty and punish his old friend.

So really, there was nothing he could do...

Nodoka suddenly gasped.

"D-Dear! He's coming into the forest!"

"What?!" Genma dropped to his knees and knelt closer to the pool, "What does he mean to do?"

' _Soun, you idiot!_ ' Genma's thoughts became panicked, ' _Turn back now! Don't make me do this!_ '

Soun panted heavily as he rushed through the woods, clutching Akane closely to his chest and shielding her from the stray twigs and branches that scratched at them. He had not seen these sights nor smelled these scents for many years, yet he remembered them as vividly as yesterday. To a random passerby he would have seemed like an absolute madman wandering crazily into the forest, but Soun had a purpose. He knew the path by heart – a path that could not be seen by mortals.

Before long he reached a great clearing in the woods. Tall, rough trees gave way to a vast expanse of lush, soft grass, swaying gently beneath the silvery moon that hung large and heavy in the sky. Various flowers dotted the meadow, giving off their pleasant, calming aromas. Towards the center of the glade was a pond that stood completely still, its water so pure and clean it looked almost like glass.

Soun took a few moments to catch his breath before he went to the pond and laid Akane before it. He stepped back, turned his attention upwards, and took a deep breath.

"No…" the gi-clad male took a hesitant step back, "He can't possibly be trying to…?"

"GENMA!" Soun howled as he fell to his knees, "O, Genma Saotome, Guardian of Nerima forest, please hear my cries! I, Soun Tendo, beseech you… Please help my youngest daughter, Akane. She is afflicted with a plague that has already claimed my beloved wife, and I cannot bear to lose her too!"

He withdrew a dagger from his sleeve and pierced the skin upon his arm, allowing the blood to seep into the earth and water below. He flinched as there was a great reverberation throughout the forest. He had made his presence known, and now he had to wait for an answer.

"Oh, dear!" the woman gasped, "He's summoned us!" She freed a hand to tug anxiously at his gi, "Surely we must do something now!"

Genma grit his teeth hesitantly, "But, we cannot-"

"Please!"

"Nodoka, again, we-"

"PLEASE!"

"ALRIGHT, WOMAN!" Genma roared and shrugged off her furious shaking, "Fine, fine!"

He paced the grounds in frustration and racked his brain for an alternative. What could he do? There was no way they would leave this forest tonight without losing either Soun or Akane. Unless...

He stopped.

"Well, there is one thing…"

He turned to whisper something in his wife's ear. Nodoka's expression initially turned shocked and then quickly melted into excitement. Glancing down at the sleeping child in her arms, who had begun to wake because of recent events, she smiled warmly and nodded happily at her husband. Having been given his wife's blessing, Genma then took his leave.

There was a loud whoosh as a bunch of leaves gathered and swirled above the pond with a flourish. As they cleared and settled upon the water, Genma Saotome appeared on its surface. Despite the windy appearance, there was not a single wrinkle on his simple, white hakama and gi. He was of strong, square build that stood in stark contrast to Soun's thinner and more agile frame. His expression was deep and serious as he regarded the man through a pair of spectacles.

Soun's breath caught in his throat but he met Genma's beady eyes with a steady gaze of his own. So it was true. Genma had become forest spirit after him. The tenseness in his shoulders eased a bit at seeing such a familiar face, but he did not yet let his guard down. Did his old friend still regard him with the same warmness he did so many years ago? Or did he now view him as a stranger, traitor to their kind?

A long pause passed between the two men, broken only by Akane's ragged breathing.

"It has been a while," Genma was the first to venture forth, "Soun Tendo."

"Genma," Soun bowed deeply.

"It was dangerous of you to return to this forest."

"I know. But some things are worth the risk."

Genma cracked a soft smile. The same words he had said when he left the forest so many years ago.

"You haven't changed one bit."

"I understand fully the consequences of me returning and accept whatever may befall me," Soun cast his gaze down in penitence, "But please, before that, I ask that you help my daughter."

The forest guardian knelt towards the man, "Give her here."

Wordlessly, Soun handed her over and Genma studied the young girl closer. She was so small and so fragile, he noted, yet he could sense within her a bright, vivacious spirit. He could still see her aura burning a bright, vivacious red – but not an angry red – it was something more warm and courageous. Granted, it was dampened heavily by the sickness, but the fact that he could sense such strength through it all was definitely impressive. Yes, she truly did contain divine blood.

The sickness was a tenacious one. Genma could see its dark tendrils encircling the girl, gnawing at her life force. She did not have long at this rate, but all hope was not lost. As long as her aura was still detectable, then there was a way she could be saved.

"She is a strong girl," Genma said, "I can sense her spirit fighting back death with a ferocious tenacity." Genma placed a hand over the girl's sweat-drenched forehead and whispered a few words. Suddenly, her panting stopped, and the spasms that seized her muscles finally relaxed.

"Akane!" Soun cried out with joy as he took the girl back into his arms, "Thank you, Genma. Is she... is she alright now?"

"I have stabilized her in the meantime, but she is not yet cured."

Soun's expression fell, "Is… Is there not anything more that can be done?"

"Yes, there is more. Her affliction is a pernicious one, but the fact that her aura still shines so brightly means it is capable of fighting back. However, it will need an extra boost. I can infuse her with enough extra chi to save her… but you know the laws of the realm as well as I do, Soun. Any service provided by a spirit to a human must be reciprocated with equal value. If I give your little girl her life, then you must owe me one in return."

Soun's expression turned grim. Indeed, he knew the laws and the implications, as much as he desperately wished for his youngest daughter's survival there was no way to escape this particular law.

At that moment, there was a small whistle followed by another flurry of leaves. As it cleared, a kimono-clad woman stepped forth with a young child clutching at her legs.

"L-Lady Nodoka!" Soun stuttered and offered another deep bow.

"Please, Soun," Nodoka's tone was amiable, "Even though you no longer have your powers you are still our dear friend and as welcome to us as you ever were."

Soun nodded in gratitude and sat upright. He wondered briefly why Nodoka had suddenly appeared. It was then he noticed the little boy standing beside her. He looked around the same age as Akane, perhaps a year or so older. What a handsome little lad, he thought. He had a healthy mop of black hair that was pulled back in a little ponytail, and large, deep blue eyes that stared inquisitively back at him and Akane. The boy was clad in a formal kimono, denoting that he was of high rank. The back of his kimono was emblazoned with the symbol of... the forest spirit?

Wait a minute, this boy, could he be…?

"You were a powerful spirit," Genma continued, "One of the strongest and most judicious guardians this forest had seen in many years. When you left, the task fell onto me. And in years to come, the task of guarding this forest will fall upon my son, Ranma."

Son?

Genma had a _son_?

Wait, who was he even married to? Soun glanced around in confusion. _Nodoka_?! Genma was married to Nodoka? He had thought she hated him! And they had a son together? Just how much had he missed while he was in the mortal realm!

As Soun struggled to come to grips with these new revelations, Ranma waddled over to Akane now peacefully resting in Soun's arms. His chubby hands poked curiously at her.

"Oh my," Nodoka giggled, "It seems Ranma has taken a liking to dear Akane!"

"When it comes time for Ranma to become protector of the forest," Genma began again, "he will need a partner. I would like someone to be by his side who comes from a good and strong family. Someone who Nodoka and I know we can trust. The deal to give Akane her life can only be completed if we receive in return a life of equal value, but we know sacrificing your life or the life of another child is out of the question. Even if you were to suggest it, I would not accept. Thus, the only outcome is for her to give her life back to the forest after we bestow it upon her."

"What do you mean?"

"In return for saving Akane's life, upon her 18th birthday she must come to the forest and serve alongside Ranma as his priestess until the end of their days. It has long been mine and Nodoka's wishes that the Tendo lineage would return to the forest. In addition, if you return your lineage to this forest, we may also be able to forgive you for abandoning your duties all those years ago. This is my only condition."

Soun found himself at a loss.

Akane and Ranma…?

He looked down at his daughter, who was so blissfully unaware of the situation happening around her. He tenderly trailed a finger along the side of her face. She was just a child… only a few years of age and so full of innocence…

How could he possibly already decide Akane's life for her when it had barely just begun? Especially when she could have no say in the matter? He himself had been a selfish man who gave up his duties and made his own choice to marry a human. Akane would be unable to make her own choices, live her own life… She would be bound him and he to her until the end of their days, each unable to seek other partners if not with each other. What if she and Ranma did not mesh well together? Was he condemning her to a life of misery? Then again, he had thought Nodoka hated being Genma's priestess, yet here they were married with a son. Perhaps he was being too anxious.

On the other hand, if he didn't accept the proposal, there wouldn't be much of a life left for her. She would be dead by morning.

The decision weighed heavily on his chest, but deep down he already knew the answer. It was better to give her a fighting chance at making the best of her future than no future.

Ranma gazed curiously at Akane and resumed his relentless poking. Why was the little girl asleep? He wanted to play with her. Soun looked back at the boy, searching deeply in those wide blue eyes so full of purity and wonder. He felt some of the anxiety leave his being. He could see no darkness in Ranma's soul. Yes, there was no better choice to trust his daughter with than the family of his closest friend.

"You take care of her, you hear me?" Soun playfully pinched at the toddler who giggled and nodded emphatically. He probably had no idea to what he was agreeing to, but that was alright. They had plenty of time to understand later on.

"Very well. Genma Saotome, I accept."

And so it was done.

Nodoka beamed as she gathered Ranma into her arms and stepped back. Genma lowered his gaze in intense focus and began muttering a series of incantations. The wind around them picked up as the forest moved and breathed, responding to Genma's calls. A series of lights flickered about the air as energy flowed from the surroundings and into Akane. At the same time, a glimmering red thread materialized, each end weaving a knot around Ranma and Akane's pinky fingers respectively. This was the mark to signify their predestination to one another.

Eventually the process subsided and the forest calmed once more. Genma panted and fell to the ground, his gi now soaked with sweat. Nodoka went to him and whispered some incantations to restore some of his strength.

"Thank you Genma, Nodoka," Soun bowed deeply in reverence.

"We will see you again soon," Nodoka offered a warm smile in return, "Take care of yourselves until then."

With one final nod of acknowledgement, all three spirits disappeared once more into the ethereal realm leaving Soun and Akane alone once more.

"Daddy!"

Soun's ears perked up at the familiar sound.

"Kasumi? Nabiki? What on earth are you doing here? How did you find this place?"

"You went away and didn't come back," both girls cried and clutched at their father.

"Is Akane going to be ok?"

"Why did you leave?"

"I'm sorry," Soun pulled his daughters close and could not fight back the tears forming in his eyes, "Akane will be OK. I didn't mean to frighten you two. I promise I won't do that again if you don't run off on your own again, OK?"

Satisfied, Soun gathered his children and set off back towards the village. Hopefully, he prayed, the worst was over and there would only be good days left to come.


	2. Meeting

**A/N:** Hi again! Welcome to the first chapter, and thank you to all of those who reviewed! I was surprised to see how active this community still is considering how old Ranma is, but it warms my heart to know people are still actively reading and writing fic for this lovely fandom. Several of you had questions about the premise of this story, so what I can say is that it will follow mostly the same major events as the manga but with a few slight twists here and there. Basically just think of it as a retelling of Ranma re-imagined in a more spiritual setting. Anyways, on with the story! Hope you all enjoy!

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 **Chapter One: Meeting**

Akane Tendo stood in the great hall of her family's shrine, eyes closed and in silence. Only the steady rise and fall of her chest could be seen, otherwise her body was perfectly still. Before her a simple wooden box was laid upon the floor. To the uninformed passerby she might have seemed quite strange, as if she were praying to this mysterious box. But Akane was concentrating intently on chanting a certain set of incantations over and over.

Focus… focus… ah, _there_!

"HYAH!" Akane let out a cry and slashed her hand down in one swift movement. There was a deafening scream as a dark entity leapt from the box and quickly dissipated into the air.

"Found you," Akane smirked and assumed an offensive stance, "You won't get away that easily!"

With another set of short, quick movements, she had forced the entity to manifest itself again. It was a small, rabid little thing seething with anger and squirming menacingly before focusing its wrath upon her. But Akane was unfazed and charged forth.

After an expertly placed punch here, a kick there, and another punch here for good measure the dark spirit was neutralized and whimpered pitifully as it slinked back to the nether from which it came.

"And don't come back, you here!" Akane grinned cheekily and clapped her hands together. Another job well done.

"Oh, thank you Akane!" an elderly woman who had been hiding behind the hall's entrance stepped forth.

"No problem," the younger girl smiled and handed the box to her, "It was luckily just a mischievous little spirit who was bored, though that doesn't give him any excuse to terrorize us. Take these talismans and place them on your door every night for a week and you shouldn't have any further troubles, ne?"

The old woman thanked her again before departing back towards the village. Akane sighed and stretched her hands above her head. Today's exorcism went well, but it was only a lesser spirit. She still had a long way to go before she could tackle the stronger ones, not that she had ever encountered one in the first place. But if the time comes she needs to be ready, especially since someday she was expected to succeed her father and become head priestess of the Tendo Shrine.

"Akane!" a young woman called from the hall's entrance, "Breakfast is ready!"

"Thanks, Kasumi!" Akane replied, "I'll have a quick bath first."

"In that case, I'll come help you get dressed after," Kasumi smiled, "It's a special day today, isn't it?"

Oh yeah, that's right. Today was her 18th birthday.

This year was an especially momentous occasion since it marked the transition from girlhood to womanhood by the laws of the land. She was now of maritable age – except she didn't care about that, she hated boys after all – and could officially succeed her father as head of the shrine. Though she was the youngest, she was by far the most capable to inherit the shrine. Kasumi and Nabiki were quite different and neither showed any inclination for the spiritual arts. They were able to practice a few simple incantations and rituals here and there, but Akane was the one who had been born with all the remarkable spiritual ability.

"Oh!" Kasumi suddenly stopped in her tracks. Akane collided with her elder sister's back with an unceremonious, "Oof!"

"Auntie Nodoka," bowed the eldest Tendo, "We were not expecting you this morning. How good it is of you to come."

Standing before them was a tall, slender woman who regarded them with eyes that radiated warmth and kindness. She was a remarkably beautiful woman who was always clad in such richly colored kimonos and simple yet elegant accessories. There was never a single hair or fold out of place in her appearance, and her mannerisms always exuded the utmost grace and elegance. Nodoka was the perfect embodiment of feminine propriety – many sometimes wondered if she was even human. Akane was suddenly briskly aware of how awful she must have looked in comparison, still sporting her sweat-soaked gi.

"My apologies, dearest Kasumi," Nodoka smiled, "I should have sent a messenger along sooner, but I was so eager to deliver Akane's gift myself."

"A gift? For me?" she blushed, "You didn't have to get me anything, auntie…"

"But it's a very special occasion, is it not?" the woman moved to slightly unravel the parcel in her arms, revealing a vibrant red cloth underneath, "I specially prepared a kimono for you and wanted to see you wear it today."

Akane was touched. Though she could only see a sample of the cloth, it was so beautiful. She didn't deserve such a gift.

"Thank you…"

"Were you just on your way to the bath? I could wash your back for you and help you dress after so Kasumi can return to her duties."

Kasumi thanked her before returning to the main house. Nodoka and Akane shared a smile before heading towards the bath.

The bath felt warm and soothing. Akane sighed and felt the tension leave her muscles. Why did she feel so unnerved today? The exorcism this morning was a simple one and had not depleted her chi at all, yet for some reason she felt anxious and stressed. It almost seemed like something very dramatic were about to occur…

But she could not think of any reason to feel that way. It was only her 18th birthday, and though it marked her transition to adulthood it wasn't like things were going to be any different, right?

Akane leaned back in the bath and splashed some of the warm water against her face. As she held her hands above the water, she studied the glistening red band encircling her little finger. It was almost undetectable, but under just the right lighting and the right focus she could make out a faint, crimson glimmer. This faint thread had been tied to her for as long as she could remember. It was not anything physical she could grasp, so she surmised it must have been something tying her to the ethereal realm. Red knots were after all the symbol of connection between two entities. To what she did not know, and whenever she asked her father he had always feigned ignorance.

"Is something troubling you, my dear?" Nodoka inquired.

"Oh no, I'm alright" Akane said, "I was just thinking about certain things... nothing of great importance."

"You must be so excited for today, ne? I remember the day of my debut as a woman… my, I was so nervous I thought I might have fainted."

As the woman continued to regale her with stories of her girlhood, Akane felt calmed by Nodoka's soothing voice. Auntie Nodoka was a rather mysterious woman, come to think of it. She did not live in Nerima village nor anywhere near it as far as she knew, and there were no other settlements around for quite some distance. It was very unlike a woman to travel alone, especially one so proper as Nodoka, so where did she come from? And whenever she visited, she always seemed to pay particular attention to Akane.

Not that she minded it very much. Truthfully Akane was grateful for the older woman's companionship. Perhaps it was because of Nodoka's maternal nature. Her own mother had passed when Akane was very young, so she never really had the luxury of knowing what she was like. Kasumi and Nabiki were several years older so they remembered her better, but all Akane knew were the stories her father and siblings told. It would be nice to have a mother like Nodoka, she thought with a smile.

Akane's breath caught in her throat when she saw the full, unraveled kimono. It was a deep, lovely red patterned with gold trees and hills. The obi itself was also a rich, shimmery gold, and the accessories were shaped in the form of leaves and flowers. The ensemble had a very earthy feel, which was appropriate considering how entwined the Tendo shrine was to nature. Never in her life had she worn such a lovely robe. All her other formal ones were hand-me-downs from Kasumi and Nabiki.

"It's beautiful," she ran her fingers along the smooth fabric, briefly wondering if she could even do the garment justice.

Kasumi was undoubtedly the pretty one in the family. Nabiki too was attractive, although her appearance was more alluring than Kasumi's traditional beauty. Akane, on the other hand, wasn't sure how she ranked in comparison. Some of the boys in the village did refer to her as cute, but she didn't know how sincere they actually were. She cringed briefly when she remembered how much of a chore it was whenever she entered the village – they constantly attacked her due to that stupid announcement Tatewaki Kuno made. Ugh, the name alone was enough to make her want to take another bath. But she often wondered if they actually hoped to win her affections or if they just did as Kuno told, since he was son of the village leader after all.

Well, in any case, all that didn't matter. She was never going to marry any of them, or anyone for that matter. She had long ago resolved to dedicate herself as a priestess of the Tendo shrine. She already belonged to the spirit of the forest, as she liked to joke.

Not all people were born able to sense or communicate with beings from the ethereal realm, but most of the villagers at least did not doubt the forest spirit's existence. Akane had always been able to feel the forest spirit's presence. She closed her eyes again. At times it was strong and formidable, like the northern wind. At other times it was soft and warm. But no matter what it was always swirling with conviction and determination, something she greatly admired about it.

"There, you look beautiful."

Nodoka stepped back to admire the girl's appearance. Her long, deep blue hair had been done up in an elegant bun, and the color of the kimono really contrasted nicely with her smooth, ivory colored skin. She did not require any make-up to accentuate her already very cute features, Nodoka thought. Her figure was nicely toned from relentless practicing, yet still held enough feminine charm to wear the kimono with grace. Akane Tendo had grown into such a fine, lovely woman.

In the dining room, Soun, Kasumi, and Nabiki took their breakfasts as usual, making small talk here and there. He noted that the spread today seemed a bit more elaborate than usual, and the food happened to all be some of Akane's favorites.

"Did you forget, father?" Kasumi said, "It's her birthday today."

"Hm?" Soun mused, "Ah yes! It is, isn't it? She'll be turning 18-" he suddenly began choking on his tea.

"Daddy is everything alright?" Nabiki peered curiously at him.

"A-Ah, yes," he coughed and tried to play off his uneasiness, but the middle Tendo daughter was much more perceptive than that.

"You're not hiding anything," her expression turned intimidating, "Are you?"

Since when had one of his precious children become so frightening? He attempted to gulp down the lump that formed in his throat.

"O-Of course! Everything is fine, it's just… just that, well…"

"Here she is!"

Soun was infinitely grateful for the sudden interruption but then quickly turned surprised when he realized who was accompanying Akane.

"Nodoka?" he blinked.

"Ah, I forgot to mention she arrived this morning," Kasumi interjected.

"Good morning!" the woman greeted cheerily, "My apologies for not letting you know sooner, but I came to help Akane get ready for the _special_ occasion."

Soun laughed nervously at the woman's mischievous wink. He smiled at his youngest daughter's appearance. She looked just like her mother in that kimono, with that dark blue hair and those deep, brown eyes. Between the three of them Akane took after their mother's appearance the most, though her determined spirit was much more like his. Kasumi had all their mother's mannerisms and gentle expression, while Nabiki was a mix of both… in a way.

"This looks delicious!" Akane smiled, "Thank you Kasumi!"

"So," Nabiki said, "Daddy what was it that you were saying before Auntie Nodoka and Akane arrived?"

Ah, there it was. He knew Nabiki wouldn't have forgotten, and now that she had called him out in front of his other two daughters there was no avoiding it. He was also wary of the sidelong glance Nodoka cast him. Over the years he had given Akane _some_ information – that she someday was expected to become a priestess and carry on the Tendo tradition of Anything Goes Worship... among other things that he had never quite elaborated on... like exactly what kind of priestess or how she would carry on those traditions. Thankfully she took extremely well to the training and was more than enthusiastic to learn all the roles and duties that came with becoming a priestess. She was lacking in some of the more domestic skills, though – such as in preparing divine food offerings – but those were trifling things she could learn eventually.

However, he had not told her _exactly_ the divine nature of her expectations. She knew that their shrine served the guardian spirit of Nerima forest, but he never explained that she would actually be directly serving him. Soun had meant to – he really had – but each time he thought about telling her, it became too unbearable. He knew his daughter well. She would not take so kindly to knowing her fate had already been decided for her.

He put down his chopsticks and settled himself in a more formal sitting position.

"Akane," he began, "Today is a very special day for you, my dear. You are now an adult and fit to inherit the title priestess of the Tendo shrine. You've worked very hard, and I'm proud of everything you've accomplished."

"Thank you father," she blushed and bowed deeply in respect, "I promise to uphold the shrine to the best of my abilities."

Kasumi and Nabiki smiled warmly at their sister, but Soun was still troubled.

"Akane," he continued, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you for a long time. Regarding your future, it has always been my wish that you would take up the spiritual arts and become a priestess of the Tendo tradition of Anything Goes Worship. But, I do not intend for you to inherit my position as head of this shrine."

It was as if the wind had been collectively knocked out of all the occupants in the room, save for Soun and Nodoka. The latter's eyes were downcast.

Akane felt her throat clench. What…? Had she not trained well enough? What was her father saying earlier then when he had praised her? What was the point of all her efforts up to this point, then…? Kasumi and Nabiki too could scarcely believe what they had just heard.

"Shortly after your mother died, you fell ill with the very same sickness that had claimed her. I tried very hard to save you but my efforts alone were not enough. After losing your mother I could not accept parting with you too, so I turned to an old friend of mine and begged him for help. His name is Genma Saotome, and through his intervention we were able to save you… but, in return for his assistance, I agreed that you would serve his son, Ranma, as his priestess."

What?

How was that even possible?

"W-What do you mean?" Akane's voice was hoarse with disbelief, "Become another man's servant…?"

Her, serve under someone? And a man she didn't even know? Ridiculous. Akane felt anger begin to gnaw at her consciousness as she recalled all the boys in the village who leered at her and her sisters like pieces of meat, only good for keeping house and making babies.

She hated boys. They were dirty, perverted, and scummy. Well, not all, but most undeniably were. The thought that her own father had decided she would submit to one made her furious. The reason she had undertaken the rigorous priestess training was so she could make her own way in life and prove she could be just as strong and capable as any other male figurehead in the village. Her sisters knew very well her hatred for boys and recoiled slightly at the rage seeping through her aura.

"No, you see, Ranma Saotome is no ordinary boy… You girls know better than anyone that there are spirits that reside in this world: embodiments of different elements that seek to protect order in the world. Kasumi, Nabiki, you can see the sprites flowing to and from the forests each night, correct? Akane, the reason why you are able to able to perform miraculous acts is because you draw on their energy, specifically from Nerima forest. We mortals use the spirits' powers to protect ourselves, while the spirits protect the natural energy in their domains. You are aware of the spirit who guards the forest and protects the balance of energy in Nerima, yes? He was my good friend, Genma Saotome."

There was a pregnant pause as the three Tendo girls struggled to take in this new information.

The forest spirit was named Genma Saotome...

...And his son was Ranma Saotome...

Realization dawned upon Akane's face, "So, that would mean…?"

"Correct. A few years ago Genma stepped down from his position in favor of his son. Ranma is the current guardian spirit of Nerima forest, and it is our wish that you become his divine priestess and serve him until the end of your days. This was the condition of the divine pact we made in order to save your life, Akane."

Divine pact?

To save her life?

"I don't quite understand," Akane's head began to throb as she tried to process everything, "What do you mean by divine priestess? What did my life have to do with this?"

At this, Nodoka finally entered the conversation.

"When your father came to us, the illness was about to claim your life, Akane. He came into the forest to plead for our assistance, and as you are well aware from your training that providing divine services requires an offering or equivalent exchange. In order to save you from your sickness and give you your life we required an equivalent life in return, which in this case means you would return to the forest and dedicate your life to protecting it as divine priestess. Mortals have priests and priestesses that utilize the spirits' powers to perform different miraculous deeds such as exorcisms and blessings in order to protect the mortal realm. Divine priests and priestesses have a similar role, but they use their abilities to protect the spirits they serve in the ethereal realm. You can imagine that being a guardian is a taxing role, so it is our duty to support them. We replenish their energy when they are tired, calm them when powers grow too out of hand, and assist them with their duties however we can. We priests and priestesses are very much on equal footing with our guardians."

We?

"Auntie Nodoka, are you…?"

"It seems I've finally been found out," Nodoka smiled cheerfully, "My full name is Nodoka Saotome, priestess-wife to Genma Saotome. Ranma is my son."

"Eh?" Kasumi exclaimed, "Auntie, you are not human then?"

"That's right," she smiled, "And neither is your father, as a matter of fact! Your father was the former forest spirit, before my husband, but he gave up his powers when he fell in love with your mother. So you girls are all also half divine, which is why you can see the spirits so easily."

Akane's shoulders shook with an emotion she could not describe. Was it hurt? Betrayal, maybe? How could her future have been decided for her like that...? I mean, granted, it had to be done to save her life... But had she been groomed all this time in preparation for her role? Had Auntie Nodoka been nice to her because she knew Akane would one day be her son's "divine priestess", and not because she actually had a fondness for her? Perhaps she did not care about her at all, and all her visits were just an attempt to shape her into a suitable match for her son…

A bitter pain stabbed at her heart.

She wanted to scream and run away from this... this... whatever madness this was!

"What kind of guy is Ranma?" Nabiki raised a brow in interest.

"No idea!"

"…"

They stared incredulously at Nodoka's smiling face.

"To be honest, he and his father have been away on an extensive training mission these past 15 years," Nodoka sighed sadly, "So I hardly know what sort of man my dear son has become now. But before they left, Genma had promised he would return a man among men. I am just as eager to meet him as you are, Akane!"

Eager wasn't exactly the word she would have used, to be honest.

They were abruptly interrupted by a loud commotion at the shrine's gates.

"Oh! We seem to have visitors!"

"That must be Ranma!" Nabiki leapt up and hurried excitedly towards the gate.

"Saotome, my old friend!" Soun followed behind eagerly. Kasumi went ahead as well, but Akane and Nodoka were the last to leave the table. The older woman had sensed her trepidation.

"My dear," Nodoka gently took Akane's hand in both of hers, "There's no need to be anxious. I know it is a lot to take in, but I've watched you grow these past 15 years and can confidently say you will be an admirable priestess. Besides, even if Ranma is my son, I care very much about your happiness too and I won't hesitate to lecture him if he mistreats you!"

Akane returned the older woman's reassuring smile, but truth be told she could not yet trust her words. She still didn't like the thought of being bound to this Ranma boy who she had never met.

Suddenly, loud screaming was heard and several pairs of footsteps pounded down the hall. Nabiki and Soun burst forth from the dining room entrance, followed closely behind by a… a…?

"P-P-Panda?!"

* * *

"CUT IT OUT, OLD MAN!"

The villagers of Nerima screamed in surprise as a feisty-looking, red-haired girl leapt from stall to stall, avoiding the hulking mass of fur that was chasing her.

"Is that a p-panda?"

"My goodness, it is a panda, isn't it!"

The girl seemed to be in a terribly foul mood as her aura practically dripped with anger. The panda also exuded an incredible amount of determination. They both stood atop the roofs of the stalls, poised in offensive stances. The panda lunged first.

The red-haired girl let out a cool breath and expertly dodged each of the panda's grapples. She saw an opening and grabbed his paw.

"How could you pick out my priestess for me?!" she growled, "Without even ASKING?"

The panda yelped loudly as he was suddenly thrown over head and slammed onto the floor. It twitched in pain, but the girl was not yet satisfied and proceeded to land a couple more blows. Once satisfied that the bloody mess of a panda had been adequately pummeled, she wiped her hands proudly and stood to regard her handiwork. The villagers cowered in their stalls. Who on earth was this strange girl? How was she so ridiculously strong, and what was with that panda?

"Hmph!" she flicked her braid over her shoulder, "This whole thing sucks and I'm NOT going through with it, ya hear? You're always trying to rope me into your stupid schemes and I'm tired of it. I'm going back to China. Suck on that, old man!"

After giving the comatose panda one last kick for good measure, the girl went to look for the pack she dropped earlier.

Little did she know the kick was actually enough to awaken the panda…

"OOF!"

The panda grabbed the now knocked out girl and hefted her over his shoulder. He then went over to a nearby vendor and held up a sign.

"Eh? The Tendo Shrine? It's just up the hill, over there."

The panda bowed and thanked him before departing.

Flabbergasted, the vendor and other residents of Nerima watched as the strange panda and red-haired girl padded towards the Tendo Shrine. For some reason they had a feeling that this was not the last they would see of the panda and red-haired girl…

* * *

"Daddy, is this your friend?!" Nabiki yelled, "The fearsome forest guardian?!"

Soun vigorously shook his head.

"Auntie Nodoka, you're married to a panda?" Kasumi asked innocently.

Nodoka also vigorously shook her head.

Suddenly, the panda let out a fearful yelp and jumped back, accidentally dropping the red-haired girl he had been carrying. The girl groaned and began to stir, awakened by all the commotion.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up to see a pair of large, brown eyes regarding her with concern. Akane knelt to check the girl's condition. Satisfied that the girl had no serious injuries, Akane gave her a gentle smile before offering her a hand up. The red-haired girl blushed and hesitated before shyly taking her hand. This girl had such a warm aura, like a gentle fire, and her smile was very sweet… The red-haired girl felt as if she could finally relax for a bit.

The panda hurriedly scrawled on a wooden signboard.

"S-SORRY," the sign read, "W-WRONG HOUSE-"

"Shut up!" the red-haired girl kicked the sign away from his hands and once again knocked the panda out. That old man was so infuriating! First he caused such a scene dragging him here, and now he wanted to run away so suddenly? They were probably scaring these poor people for crying out loud. They at least deserved an explanation.

Wait a minute, that fierce kick, that fighting stance…

"Say," Soun leaned forward and studied the girl's expression, "You… You wouldn't happen to be…?"

"Sorry for all the commotion," the girl mumbled and bowed, "I'm Ranma Saotome."

"Ranma!" Nodoka cried happily and flung herself at the confused girl, "I'm so glad to finally- ah?"

She paused and pulled back to regard the figure before her. This red hair… didn't her Ranma have black hair? Curvaceous hips, an ample bosom, rounded features. Could it be? Nodoka reached forward touch the girl's chest.

Oh, yes, those were indeed breasts.

"Auntie Nodoka!" the rooms' occupants screamed as the older woman collapsed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Kasumi hurried to get a futon and a wet towel, while Akane caught her fall and eased her onto the floor.

"Saotome!" Soun shouted at the retreating panda, "You stay right there, we'll need an explanation as to what's going on here!"

After the fuss had died down and everything had been cleared away, the Tendo family and their guests resituated themselves around the low dining table. Nodoka had been taken to a separate room and Kasumi had elected to stay and watch over the unconscious woman.

"I am indeed Ranma Saotome, and Genma Saotome is my father," she motioned towards the panda, "I'm very sorry again for all the trouble we caused. We just got back from a training trip in China where a number of things have happened to us. To be honest I'm not very sure what's going on either, but my father said I was to come here and meet my future priestess."

"So are you truly forest spirits?" Akane asked. Frankly they all looked like regular people, save for the panda. But he didn't seem like a divine panda either.

"Their outwardly appearances aren't any different from mortals," Soun explained, "As you can tell by my appearance, we look just like regular humans except for maybe a couple differences. Only a person well-versed in the spiritual arts would be able to tell them apart. Divine beings are also able to travel to and from the human world at will, though they cannot stay for too long or their powers begin to degrade. I was only able to remain after I had given up mine."

"So they are real," Nabiki mused as she prodded Ranma's chest, completely ignoring the conversation. Ranma grew visibly irate at the groping, but before she could open her mouth to protest Akane stepped in.

"Leave her alone," she commanded flatly, "She's our honored guest, after all."

Again, Ranma was taken aback by the girl's appearance for the second time that day. There was a bright, lively spark about her. By the looks of it she seemed like any proper young woman – with that finely decorated kimono – but she was far from demure and reticent like other ladies of her rank.

"Must be a relief to you, ne, Akane?" Nabiki smirked, "You don't have to be bound to a boy after all, since Ranma's a girl!"

"A-Actually…"

"Akane hates boys," Nabiki murmured with a wink.

...

Ranma gulped nervously.

Well it was certainly a relief, Akane noted. She wondered how everyone could get something like Ranma's gender so egregiously wrong, but there was no doubt about it the person before her was definitely female. Either way Akane would have agreed to be Ranma's priestess, but this just made everything much easier. She looked over at the redhead and saw that the poor thing looked almost as upset and confused as Akane about the entire situation. Well, there was no sense in making her any more uncomfortable. Might as well be friends since they were in the same predicament, right?

Akane felt at ease in this girl's presence. No doubt about it, her aura felt identical to the forest spirit's: strong, confident, and warm. It was calming and familiar. Maybe this arrangement wouldn't be so bad after all.

"You said you've been training in the spiritual arts with your father, right?"

Ranma looked up to see Akane hovering over him with that same welcoming smile she had given her earlier.

"Mhm."

"Want to join me in the practice hall? I'm Akane. Let's be friends."

Ranma nodded and gave a timid smile of her own. She then found herself being led away by Akane's gentle hand. Maybe this arrangement wasn't such a bad idea after all…

As they walked through the grounds, Ranma took a minute to admire her surroundings. The shrine was a simple ensemble of wooden buildings and structures: carved stone steps ran up the hill through a pair of worn but richly colored red gates, leading to a dirt path that escorted travelers to the main hall and site of worship. To the right, off towards the rear of the property, was another building not so delicately decorated as the others, but still charming nonetheless. That was probably where the Tendo family lived. She liked this simple, traditional kind of shrine the best.

They were led to an empty room next to the family dojo and Akane began to undo the pins in her hair. At that moment, Ranma glimpsed a faint red sparkle upon the girl's right pinky.

Wait a minute...

Ranma held her own hand ahead of her and concentrated. Sure enough, she could make out the same, sparkling red thread that encircled her own pinky and led straight to Akane's.

So it was true after all, then? This girl in front of him was really the one whose fate was predestined with hers? A slight blush lit upon her cheeks. She would finally have someone who would be beside and support her. Someone she could trust and confide in. It was such a strange feeling after having been so alone for so many years, but Ranma felt excited at the opportunity. Well, there was her good-for-nothing father, but all Genma inspired in him was rage and frustration.

Akane, on the other hand, felt warm and invigorating. Fiery yet welcoming. She probably made a great sparring partner. Granted she did not truly know what she was like yet, but at the very least she was drawn to this girl's strong aura.

"Ranma," Akane called, "Could you help me undo this kimono?"

W… What?

"A-Ah, s-sure," the redhead stuttered and struggled to hide her embarrassment. Her fingers shook with trepidation as she reached towards the obi. Why the heck had she agreed? This was totally not right!

"I'm afraid your mother picked out quite an elaborate one, and I want to make sure I don't ruin it."

"My mother…?" Ranma whispered. Was she referring to that lady who collapsed?

"Come to think of it, you probably don't remember her much since you've been away training for 15 years, huh? Auntie Nodoka has been eagerly awaiting your return all this time, so it's no wonder she passed out from the shock when she saw you. It's been so long she thought you were her son! Can you believe that?"

"H-Hah, yeah," Ranma laughed nervously. Yet another confusion she would have to clear up.

Akane's hair cascaded down her shoulders in long, silky tresses as it was finally released from the constricting bun. She hummed softly and began working to undo the cords on the front of her robe. Ranma was eternally grateful Akane had her back towards her, else she would have seen the viciously deep shade of crimson that splayed across her cheeks.

' _T-This is totally wrong,_ ' Ranma thought, ' _I shouldn't be here, she still thinks I'm a-_ '

Her mind went completely blank when the kimono fell to the floor.

* * *

"So that's how it is, huh?"

Soun stared at the bald man across from him with teary eyes, though his expression was completely serious. The man nodded solemnly, tears streaming down his face as well.

"Genma, my poor old friend," Soun wept, "It is good to see you again after all these years, even under such pitiful circumstances."

"Indeed," the man sobbed, "Such is the cruel way of things, isn't it?"

"Let me get this straight," Nabiki's said, "You and Ranma went to train at some cursed springs, and apparently if you fall into one of these pools, you take on the appearance of whatever spirit 'drowned' there centuries prior?"

"That's correct," Genma nodded, "Truly a terrible fate befell us that fateful day…"

His words were cut short as he suddenly found himself two times bigger, covered in fur, and soaking wet. But a minute later, he was even wetter and returned to his normal form.

"Huh!" Nabiki whistled, "When you're splashed with any 'unpurified' water, you turn into your cursed form, eh? And only water that has been ritually purified will return you to normal."

"I could have told you that without needing a demonstration," Genma's eyebrow twitched.

"What made you think it was a good place to go there in the first place?"

"It is regarded among the spirit realm as the most difficult place to train at given the countless spirits who curse those grounds. Surely a guardian of Nerima forest would have no trouble traversing the springs, but my own son – my own dear, flesh and blood son – dared to kick his father into one of the springs! If he hadn't done that, none of this would have happened! I wouldn't be part panda-spirit and my Ranma wouldn't be… wouldn't be...!"

"So it's true!"

Genma screeched loudly as Nodoka suddenly appeared at the entrance, accompanied by a curious Kasumi.

"Dear, don't run!" she grabbed his gi with ferocious desperation, "Please, I was right, wasn't I? That was Ranma who was here just now! But the person I hugged was surely a girl, so how can that be? You had promised that Ranma would return as a man among men, yet what I saw was-!"

"I-I-I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU MEAN!" Genma yelled and struggled to free himself, "L-LADY, WHO ARE YOU?"

"How could you be so cruel!" Nodoka wailed and slapped her husband, "Where is my Ranma! A mother knows what kind of child she gave birth to, and my Ranma is surely a boy! Tell me where he is right now or else!"

A loud, bloodcurdling scream met their ears.

"Oh dear," Kasumi gasped, "That sounded like Akane!"

"Quick, it came from the training hall!"

Genma was momentarily relieved by the distraction, but Nodoka held fast onto him and dragged him along as well. After all this time, she wouldn't let him get away so easily.

"Akane!" Soun yelled as he slammed open the door, "What happe- GOOD LORD!"

Akane sat upon the floor in near complete undress, body trembling with several indescribably emotions. Rage and humiliation were probably two of the main ones. Her hair was completely undone and disheveled, and her bare skin was exposed for all to see except for her most intimate parts, which were protected by the kimono she held desperately to her chest. A very compromising position, to say the least. At her feet lay a ladle they recognized as belonging to the purifying water bath.

A tall, young man of strong and athletic build stood quietly on the opposite side of the room with his head downcast. He had a thick mop of jet black hair that was pulled into a low, braided pigtail. He had a handsome face and deep, blue eyes that looked very familiar. Not to mention that Chinese-style robe he wore, wasn't that the same one that Ranma had been wearing?

"W-Who… Who are you?"

"Sorry again," the young man mumbled, "I'm Ranma… Ranma Saotome…"


	3. Curse

**A/N:** Oh hello! I'm back! For now... my apologies for the long absence. Life just sometimes catches up with you and sweeps you away from things you used to love, y'know? Anyway, just wanted to let any previous readers of this story (and if there are any of you, thanks for still following after all this time!) that I rewrote the previous chapters a bit to expand on a few plot points, so it might be worth a reread. Other than that, hope you all enjoy this latest installment!

* * *

 **Chapter Two: Curse**

 _"Honored guest, welcome to legendary hot spring Jusenkyo!" the guide announced with a respectful bow, "Please must be careful, very dangerous now. Nobody use, so you very strange for wanting come here!"_

 _"Tch," Ranma surveyed the area with disinterest, "This place doesn't seem so impressive. Why'd you even wanna come here, pop?"_

 _"If you want to be strong enough to protect Nerima, then it's necessary for you to train here," Genma set his pack down and began stretching._

 _He had heard tales of Jusenkyo before. It was once a legendary, sacred place that many spirits used to cleanse and purify themselves during their journeys. All sorts of spirits came from far and wide to bask in its invigorating waters, until something strange happened hundreds of years ago… The waters suddenly turned dark and deadly, drowning all the poor, unsuspecting spirits bathing in its pools. Their souls then became trapped and tainted, cursing the grounds for all of eternity. From then on a dark miasma surrounded the area covering it with all the negative energy of the spirits who had been drowned by the curse. Nobody knew who or what caused this sudden change, but all knew to stay clear of it._

 _Well, almost all._

 _All the dark energy made it a very appealing place to train. If Ranma wanted to someday protect Nerima then he needed to be well versed in what it was like to deal with dark energy._

 _"Are you prepared, Ranma?" Genma leapt onto one of the bamboo poles, "I won't go easy on you!"_

 _"That's how I want it!" Ranma smirked and followed suit._

 _"AIEE! Honored guest, what you doing?!" the guide became very flustered, "Careful! Is no good if you fall in spring!"_

 _But both men ignored his warnings and launched their attacks. Genma was relentless, shooting blast after blast, incantation after incantation, but despite the barrage of attacks Ranma had no trouble keeping up._

 _"Is that all you got, pop?!"_

 _"I'm just getting started, boy!"_

 _Despite all the warnings from their guide, Ranma found that the allegedly "cursed" hot springs weren't nearly as terrible as people had said they would be. Sure the air felt a bit thicker and heavier, but that was about it. He couldn't believe people were actually afraid of the place! Were spirits in China really that weak? What was so scary about a bunch of water anyways?_

 _"Gotcha!" Ranma yelled, landing a kick on his unsuspecting father's backside._

 _The force knocked Genma from his bamboo pole and into one of the springs below. Ranma watched smugly as his father flailed and garbled beneath the water. But then, the bubbles stopped._

 _"Pop?" Ranma didn't know why, but a sense of dread overcame him. It was brief, but he felt a surge of dark energy coming from the pool. What was the matter?_

 _"Oh no!" the guide panted as he arrived on the scene, barely managing to have caught up to the spirits, "Is very bad! Very bad! That spring of cursed panda spirit!"_

 _The younger man quirked his brows in confusion, "So what does that mea- GAH!"_

 _A loud rumbling emanated from the pool as a large, dark, and hairy figure suddenly erupted from its depths. Its gaze was murderous, and its aura vengeful._

 _"P-P-PANDA?"_

 _Ranma could only sputter in disbelief, flabbergasted at the enormous creature in front of him. Where did this thing come from?! Where was his pop? Wait, it couldn't be…_

 _"I tell you springs are cursed!" the guide shook his head very matter-of-factly, "If fall in, then take body of drowned spirit!"_

 _"You didn't tell us that part!" Ranma yelped and leapt away as the angry panda roared and swiped at him. No way, it couldn't be true could it? So then, if he were to fall too… oh, CRAP!_

 _Taking advantage of the boy's momentary pause, the panda lunged forward and swiped again, this time successfully managing to topple Ranma from the pole._

 _"GAH! N-NOOOO!"_

 _The water was cold and prickly upon his skin. His chest suddenly felt incredibly heavy as if inundated by some unforeseen weight. Despite how clear the pools had seemed on the surface, everything was dark and murky underneath. He couldn't see a thing._

 _Ugh! His body… why did it suddenly feel so heavy and painful? He could feel his chi struggling with itself, grappling with some unidentifiable force. He struggled and gasped desperately for breath._

 _The guide was waiting for him at the edge of the pool when he resurfaced. Glancing around wildly, Ranma checked himself. Surprisingly everything looked in place: two legs, two arms, two hands, two… wait, what the…_

 _"W-WHAT?"_

* * *

"The legendary grounds of Jusenkyo cursed hot springs," Soun shook his head sadly, "Its true horror has always been shrouded in mystery, until now…"

"Feh!" Ranma huffed through grit teeth, "True horror doesn't even begin to describe it…"

Nabiki sipped her tea quietly as she listened to the story with much intrigue. When they had discovered Ranma and Akane in their rather complicated predicament, her father nearly turned into a demon spirit until Genma ran in and doused the boy in pond water, turning him back into the redheaded girl from before. Then he was doused again with purified water, turning her back into his normal form.

Nodoka had fainted again from all the confusion. She was finally able to see her son again, only to see him turn into a female the very next second (she still hadn't been told about the curse). So Kasumi was once again tending to her in the other room, leaving Nabiki and a very irate Akane the only other occupants. Her younger sister had not said a single word since the incident, but Nabiki could tell Akane was beyond mad. She was still upset a man had nearly seen her naked body – and that she hadn't been told of Ranma's true nature.

"What was the big idea of bringing me there without knowing what it was, anyways?!" Ranma shouted, gripping his father by the collar.

"Part of being guardian means to sacrifice everything for your position!" Genma snapped back, "Were you not prepared to give your life?!"

"My manhood is a different story!"

Genma grabbed Ranma's wrist and threw him into the pond in the garden. He resurfaced in his female form, sputtering and sufficiently enraged.

"What he heck was that for, old man?!"

"Look at yourself!" he exclaimed, wiping away the tears of shame that formed, "It hurts me to see you this way, my unfortunate son!"

"Whose fault is that?!"

She stormed back into the room, grumbling curses under her breath. As she opened her mouth to protest further, she felt a different kind of water poured over her head. Ranma blinked and looked up to meet a very serious looking Akane. In her hand she held an empty cup with a purifying talisman affixed to it.

"A-Ah," he muttered meekly, "Thanks."

But Akane turned away and went back to her seat next to Nabiki. Ranma stared at her with a raised eyebrow. So she was still giving him the cold shoulder, huh? Hadn't he explained it was a misunderstanding? How was he supposed to know she was going to suddenly undress? And besides, why did his being male make her attitude change so drastically? Did she really hate guys that much? He didn't ask for this form nor did he deserve such treatment. He was still the same person, after all!

He thought back to only a few hours prior, when she had welcomed him with a warm smile. Her aura had been warm and comforting before. Why couldn't she be more like that again? It was nice, and she looked rather cut-

"Oh!" the eldest Tendo daughter appeared at the entryway accompanied by a dazed but conscious Nodoka, "Did we miss it?"

"Ah, Nodoka! Are you feeling better n-" Soun found himself suddenly cut off by a panda paw over his mouth.

"S-Saotome?" he blurted as best he could through the muffling.

The panda shook his head violently.

"Why are you so afraid of seeing your wife, Mr. Saotome?" Nabiki poked curiously at the sign.

Genma's fur stood on end as he hurriedly scribbled, "DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

Nodoka? Ranma's ears perked up. Right, wasn't that...

"Pop, is that woman my mom?"

"NO, NEVER SEEN THAT WOMAN IN MY LIFE."

"LIAR!"

Kasumi pursed her lips at the flailing panda, "Mr. Saotome, how can you deny her? She has waited dutifully for you and Ranma to return these past 15 years!"

"My son! Is that really you?"

Nodoka could not stop her tears as she rushed towards the young man with arms outstretched.

"Mom?" hesitantly, Ranma reached towards the strange woman. Was this really his mother? The woman he had missing these 15 long years?

"STOP!" the sign read as panda Genma hurled a smoke bomb at the scene. He flashed another sign as he began dragging them away, "I'LL EXPLAIN LATER. AKANE, RANMA, COME WITH ME. WE MUST LEAVE AND BEGIN YOUR TRAINING IMMEDIATELY-"

"STOP IT!" Ranma elbow slammed his father to the floor, "Change back like a normal being! Now tell me what's going on!"

Genma sputtered as Akane doused him with a cup of purified water. "N-Nothing, there's nothing to tell! I was just saying words! Now forget what just happened and get back to training-"

"Why do you keep avoiding her?" Ranma demanded, "Is that woman really my mother?"

"W-Well, she is, but-"

"I'm going to meet my mom."

"You can't!"

"Get off me, old man! Why the hell not?"

Genma grasped his son by the shoulders and looked at him with a serious face Ranma had never seen before.

"You see, when you were just a little boy I made a vow to her. I promised you would be the strongest guardian Nerima has ever seen. For that reason, I took you away to explore all those different places in the mortal and ethereal realms for these past 15 years. But if for any reason you failed to become the purest of spirits, then I… I…"

"You would _what_ , pop?" Ranma's tone grew more irate.

"T-Then... I'd commit seppuku…"

…

"I'm going to meet my mom!"

"RANMA!" Genma wailed, "How could you be so cruel to your own father! You don't care I'll have to kill myself?! Have you no respect for me!"

"It's your own fault for making all these dumb vows to begin with!" Ranma spat back.

As he went to tear himself free of his father's death grip, the smoke began to clear and once more Nodoka made her way forward, followed by the rest of the Tendo family.

"Is it really you," she whispered, "My goodness, it is! After all this time!"

"Mom!"

Nodoka cried at finally being able to embrace her son. He had grown so tall! And so handsome! She took a step back to admire his appearance. His build was strong and healthy, yet his blue eyes were the same bright and clear color she remembered from his childhood. He towered above her with a confident aura full of conviction. There was something else swirling about him, too. Some strange presence she did not entirely recognize.

"STOP!" Genma huffed as he separated them, "Ranma, if she finds out, then you too will have to commit seppu-!"

"I already heard everything," Nodoka interrupted.

"Y... You did?" Genma stammered.

His wife nodded, "I could hear the story from the other room when Kasumi was tending to me."

The older man allowed some of the tension to leave his body. Well, since she seemed rather unperturbed, then perhaps she forgot about the vow after all.

Father and son let out identical high-pitched yelps when Nodoka unsheathed a katana from her kimono.

But instead of raising it to strike at them, Nodoka instead pointed it at her husband alone.

"Genma Saotome," she announced, "For breaking your vow to me and failing to protect our son I will be taking you back to the spirit world, where you will repent for what you have done."

A flurry of leaves rose to encircle Genma in a protective cage, sharpening their edges to resemble many little razor blades. It would be impossible for him to try to escape, and even if he did then he risked grievously injuring himself.

"N-Nodoka, please-"

But she would have none of his excuses.

Akane was taken aback at how serious Nodoka's voice was. She had never seen the kind-hearted woman act in such a way before. Her aura at the moment was incredibly formidable. Maybe this is where Ranma got his, she mused.

Ranma stared mouth agape at the scene, unsure of what to make of it. What about him? Was she not going to punish him either? As if she had been able to read his mind, Nodoka turned and gave him a soft smile.

"My dear, you have grown into such a strong spirit," she placed a hand affectionately upon her son's cheek, "You fulfilled your promise to me, so there is nothing to fault you for. The curse that befell you was your father's doing by casting you into that pool. Nobody could blame you for that."

"Mom..."

"Now, please pardon me, but I must return at once before Genma manages to sneak away from me again. Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, thank you for all your hospitality," she bowed deeply and respectfully, "And Akane, I will be seeing you again soon, dear."

She gave the younger girl a playful wink before whispering a series of incantations. A golden light bathed her and a trembling Genma before disappearing them both in a flash. A few leaves fluttered to the ground where they had been standing.

What on earth just happened, Nabiki and Akane thought in unison. Could this morning get any weirder? Kasumi went to go sweep up the leaves as Soun scratched his head in confusion. Well, it was good to have his old friend visit, but he doubted he would be seeing Genma again any time soon. A certain pig-tailed spirit shuffled awkwardly behind them, unsure of what to do next.

Oh, that was right. There was still that whole priestess thing they had to deal with.

Soun cleared his throat clasped his hand on Ranma's shoulder heartily, "Well, my boy, that was quite a family reunion wasn't it?"

Ranma scarce had the good humor to laugh back.

"Luckily it seems at least your problem isn't so bad after all," Soun continued, "You still retain all your abilities in your female form, right? And there's a relatively simple way to change back. Purifying water is a task that Akane can do very easily!"

Ranma spirit snuck a glance at the aforementioned girl, who still refused to meet his gaze. For some reason that made his blood boil. Well, if she was going to act that way then there was no way this was going to work.

What the heck was this total change in attitude? Soun must have been blind or something because from the looks of it that girl would rather be dead than become his priestess. Maybe that was a good thing, then.

"At least he's only half male, ne?" Nabiki prodded her sister playfully, but Akane was not amused.

"It doesn't matter to me," she said rather flatly.

Ranma rubbed his brows in exasperation, "Look girlie, you don't have to go through with this if you don't want to, OK? Forget what our dads said, we both have to agree to this so it's not too late to call it off."

"Besides," he continued, lowering his tone seriously, "You've lived your whole life in the mortal world. You wouldn't be able to last a day in the spirit realm."

In all honesty it was the safest option for her to remain here. He was just trying to be a good person and look out for her best interests, especially with his cursed condition. He was a spirit infected by another, two chis fighting for one body. Nobody he knew or consulted had ever encountered such a condition before, so nobody quite knew what to make of his predicament. There was a darkness that had begun to build slowly around him ever since the incidence, no doubt caused by the imbalance of his curse. What did this mean for him? Was the darkness going to continue manifesting and eventually turn into something dangerous? Or something else entirely? He did not know, but he at least had a feeling it would not be safe for anyone around him.

Akane stood abruptly, chin held high and eyes alight with determination. Her aura had returned to its full, fiery crimson, and Ranma found himself momentarily drawn to how powerful it was. His own aura began to come alive as well, incensed and entranced by the challenge.

How dare he. She was not some weak, pathetic thing deserving of his pity! And who was he to talk, anyway? He couldn't have been more than a year older than her.

"I'm perfectly capable of holding my own, thanks! Who would want to serve such a perverted spirit anyway."

"P-Pervert?!" he couldn't believe his ears. _She_ was the one who was undressing before someone she barely even knew! "Call me a pervert, but at least I'm not a dense blockhead!"

"They argue like they're already familiars," Nabiki whispered to Kasumi.

The red knot wrapped around Akane's little finger slowly came into focus, this time much brighter than ever before. It glimmered a path from her hand straight to Ranma's. Again, she was reminded of the promise.

She hated this so much. She wanted so badly to run from this madhouse or convince herself that this was just a terrible dream. But she had too much respect for the laws of nature to subvert the arrangement, especially since she quite literally owed her life to this.

Ranma opened his mouth to protest once more but was taken aback when Akane rose and regarded him with a fierce expression. Was she looking to fight some more? Bring it on, he could take it!

But she did not. Instead she turned away and went into the garden. With a deep breath, Akane took a dagger and pierced her pinky, allowing the blood to drip onto the earth below. She felt her surroundings reverberate around her.

"I, Akane Tendo, make this vow respectfully before the guardian of Nerima forest. I accept my duties as divine priestess to Ranma Saotome and swear to serve him from now until the end of my days."

"What're you doing?!" Ranma yelled in disbelief, "Didn't you hear a word I just said?!"

"I heard all of it," Akane snapped back defiantly, "I was born and raised into the Tendo tradition of Anything Goes Worship. We always honor our vows, no matter what. My father swore to yours that I would come into your service when I became of age, and while I had no say in that decision, a promise is a promise. I am now fulfilling my duty."

"Look, I'm serious! The spirit world ain't just any old place for little girls! I'm serious, stay here and be with your family!"

"Rrraaanmaaa! Are you insulting my daughter?"

Ranma yelped and skittered away from the monstrous, hissing demon head that had materialized before him.

"F-Fine! But don't come crying to me later on, ya hear? I warned you!"

"I won't," Akane crossed her arms resolutely.

Ranma shook his head. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Forgoing the same delicacy Akane had exhibited, Ranma bit the tip of his thumb and let the blood drip onto the earth.

"I, Ranma Saotome, guardian of Nerima forest, hereby accept Akane Tendo as my divine priestess."

The thread around his pinky began to glow brightly too as the light from each of their hands connected. A jolt surged between them and dissipated as quickly as it had come. The thread between them had also disappeared but the knots around their pinkies were now fully visible and materialized as silken, red cords tied like rings. The vows were complete.

No going back now, Ranma grumbled.

Akane glanced at her body and then to her surroundings. Well, she didn't really feel any different, aside from the jolt that had come and pass. Was this all there was to it?

"Alright, get your stuff," Ranma's voice snapped her from her reverie, "We should head back to the forest before sundown."

What? Already? But what about her family?

"You'll be residing in the forest from now on, so get whatever you wanna bring with you."

The forest, like every other holy site in this world, existed in both the ethereal and mortal realms. In fact, most of the spiritual world existed right on top of the mortal world, but for whatever reason spirits and humans could not always see or communicate with each other. He had heard from someone that mortals and spirits descended from the same ancestors, which explained why they held so many similarities and why some humans could still access spiritual energy. But for whatever reason many years ago, there was a split where many humans lost their ability to freely enter the ethereal realm. But at holy sites at least, both mortals and spirits could be synced.

"Leaving so soon?" Kasumi wondered with a slight tinge of sadness.

"She's going to be able to come and visit right?"

"Well..."

"RRAAANMAAA!" demon Soun screeched, "Do not keep my youngest daughter from her family!"

"OKAY, OKAY," Ranma blurted, "Geez, we'll come back."

The mood lightened as each Tendo family member let out a sigh of relief, save for Akane. She cast her gaze downward, allowing her bangs to shadow her expression. This was it. From this day forth, her life would be totally different from anything she had known before. It was a strange and bittersweet feeling, but she took comfort in knowing she could still visit between the ethereal and mortal realms to check up on her family. She lifted her chin again with resolution. She would be strong and persevere, for the sake of her family.

Akane scarcely ever said any prayers for herself, but this time she allowed herself a small concession.

Please, she whispered, if there were any benevolent forces listening to her right now, at least... at least allow her and Ranma to get along. That's all she wished for.

* * *

"Remember you have to come back tomorrow, you hear?" Nabiki shouted at her sister's retreating figure, "Kuno summoned you to his estate!"

Akane rolled her eyes. That darn Kuno. Yes he was the son of the village leader, but that didn't give him any right to just order people around as he pleased. He was probably summoning her to try and ambush her with another one of those marriage proposals. She wondered how he would react to hearing that she was now officially unavailable forever.

She glanced back at her family. Kasumi was consoling their father, who was weeping into handkerchief after handkerchief. He had always been so dramatic like that. Kasumi's expression held some sadness while Nabiki just waved cheerfully at her. Nabiki wasn't any bit sad about this arrangement because she knew Akane would find a way to see her family again no matter what. Her little sister had always been a fighter like that.

Akane's heart was heavy as she trudged down the hill to where Ranma was waiting. Thankfully she did not have many possessions worth bringing: just some clothes, talismans, ritual supplies, and a couple mementos from her family.

"Who's Kuno?" Ranma cocked a brow at her.

"Some jerk," Akane huffed, "Nobody worth anyone's concern."

"If he's so unimportant then why are you bothering to go back tomorrow?"

"He's the son of the village leader, so I have to pay him some small amount of attention to keep my family in good status with his father. Besides, I've dealt with him hundreds of times before. It'll be a quick meeting and probably over with for good after tomorrow."

"Feh! Who cares about a guy like that? You're better off staying in the forest and getting started on your training."

"Are you jealous? Trying to keep me to yourself so soon?" she teased.

Ranma nearly fell over as his face flushed red with indignation, "W-What!"

"Don't worry," Akane stuck her tongue out at him, "I know you don't think that way. I have to go back because I have to at least wrap up the obligations I had before I found out about this arrangement. You don't have to come along, you know."

"Yeah, well, don't take too long," Ranma turned away and tried to shake off his earlier embarrassment, "We have a lot to go over, especially since you don't know the first thing about being a priestess."

"I've been training in the spiritual arts my whole life! What do you mean don't know the first thing?"

"Purifying water hardly counts!"

"GAhh!"

As the bickering duo entered the forest, a gentle breeze began to swirl around them. The loose foliage scattered about the ground glowed with a soft, golden hue as the wind swept it into a path, welcoming Nerima's newest priestess and her guardian.


	4. First Night

**A/N:** Yay next chapter woohoo! Finally we're approaching more AU territory. I don't really have much else to say, but I hope you guys enjoy this next installment!

* * *

 **Chapter Three: First Night**

Akane gazed up in wonder at the structure before her. She had never seen a palace in person before, especially one belonging to a forest spirit. Her only experience with such estates were through illustrations or tales some of the merchants in the village would bring back from their travels. It was not as grand or expansive as some of the other palaces out there, such as the emperor's castle in Kyoto, but it was still breathtaking nonetheless. The Kuno estate was the largest property Akane had ever known, yet it paled in comparison to the beautiful grounds before her.

The palace looked to be very old and built in the traditional style. Its ceramic tiles were worn and faded, but the walls were not discolored or cracked, indicating that the home had been maintained and cared for very well. Akane thought the age only added to its beauty. All around the property were a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers, which made sense given that the home belonged to the forest spirit after all. So this is where Nodoka had been coming and going from. Had she been tending to this place by herself all this time?

Ranma also took his time as he approached the palace with great curiosity. So this was his home, huh? He had lived here for the first three years of his life, yet he had been away for so long he barely remembered any of it. It was almost as if he was seeing it for the first time as well. As he placed his hands upon the wooden pillars of the gate, he could feel a calm and gentle energy.

Memories flooded back to him of his mother's kind smile as he played in the gardens. He could see the dojo where his father first began teaching him the spiritual arts.

 _"My boy is a prodigy!" Genma laughed as he raised a grinning baby Ranma in the air, "Did you see that, Nodoka? He learned how to sprout his first sapling in no time!"_

 _"Dear, that's amazing!" Nodoka beamed and took her son into her arms. She gasped at all the life and energy radiating from his little body. He was certainly a gifted one._

 _"You will be the strongest guardian Nerima has ever seen! The villagers will sing your praises for many years to come!"_

 _"Oh Ranma, you're so amazing!"_

 _"Legendary guardian Ranma!"_

 _"Ranma!"_

"Ranma!"

The aforementioned forest spirit blinked in surprise as he was snapped from his stupor. A pair of inquisitive, brown eyes gazed back at him.

"Are you feeling ok?" Akane leaned in closer, scrutinizing him, "You've been standing there for ten minutes with a really dopey look on your face."

"Dopey?" Ranma's cheeks grew hot, "I'll have you know I was deep in important thoughts!"

"I'm sure you were," she mused, "Come over here and look at these flowers. They're so beautiful!"

She knelt next to a row of bright, red flowers and closed her eyes. They had such a lovely fragrance. Ranma observed from afar and cocked his head curiously to one side.

It was intriguing how delighted Akane seemed at something so simple as a row of flowers, not that there was anything wrong with that. It was actually really pleasant like this. Her aura was once again warm and calm, filling him with the same sense of comfort he had felt when they first met. He wondered briefly if it was because of the way the vow connected them together that he seemed to be a bit more sensitive to her feelings. In any case, if she liked flowers so much then he could just grow her a few more bushels. He made a mental note to do that later after they had been settled.

After touring the front of the palace they made their way inside. Akane could smell traces of Nodoka's perfume in the air. She wondered if she and Genma would also be returning soon. Wasn't this their home, after all? She did mention they would be gone in the spirit realm for some time. Come to think of it... what _was_ the spirit realm like? She knew of its existence, but she realized she didn't actually know anything else about it. How it was laid out? Did it look largely the same as the human world? Were most spirits humanoid like Ranma, or were they more animalistic and amorphous as she had encountered when she performed exorcisms?

"Say, Ranma, are we in the spirit realm right now?"

"Sort of," he replied as he began to unpack his things, "Nerima forest is a holy site, so it's in-between. From here you can travel back to the mortal realm or take a different path to the spirit realm."

"If this place exists in both worlds, how come I've never seen this palace before? I've explored the forest countless times in my life."

"You gotta know what to look for," Ranma shrugged, "Don't really know how to explain it, but sometimes humans block spiritual things out and don't see what's right in front of them."

Akane pondered upon his words. All her life she had thought she was embracing the spiritual realm to the best of her ability and prided herself in being among the few in her village to see what many others could not. But it seemed she still had much to experience.

"What's the spirit realm like?"

"It's pretty different from the mortal realm. Lots of... interesting things. You never tried to find out for yourself?"

She shook her head no.

"You can go whenever, y'know? You're half divine so you can travel there if you want." Anything with divine origin was able to travel back and forth between the spirit and mortal worlds easily through these holy sites. The same was not true for humans, however. Only those with some minimum amount of divine blood or those born gifted with such abilities were able to traverse into the spirit realm, but it was not an easy task if you did not know where to look or what to do.

Akane's expression lit up with excitement, "Can I really? Will you take me sometime?"

"Sure, if you want."

She cheered excitedly and Ranma once again found himself intrigued by her reactions. Though he supposed that was because the village was mostly surrounded by forest, and given that Soun wasn't allowed to go through the forest easily that was probably why she hadn't traveled or seen many things. But, he had to admit it was a bit refreshing seeing someone genuinely get excited at these things.

"Your pop never really took you anywhere?"

"Well," Akane paused and thought for a moment, "There was one time we went to visit a valley called Ryugenzawa. My father took my sisters and me there after my illness, since the waters were supposed to help improve ones health."

Ryugenzawa? The name sounded slightly familiar. Ranma believed it was another holy site somewhere in the south of Japan, though he had never been.

"That it? Geez you really are sheltered, aren't you? OOF!" he barely managed to dodge the block she chucked at him

She stuck her tongue out, "So what! No need to be rude about it! I had a lot of duties that kept me in the village anyway."

"Why you gotta hurl things for? Violent tomboy!"

"What did you call me?!"

"You heard me!"

"Hmph!" Akane turned away with a huff. So much for that prayer earlier.

Ranma rubbed his head with a frown. He hadn't really meant to offend her, and maybe he shouldn't have called her that... but when he felt her aura fire up he just couldn't resist the challenge. It was in his nature as a fighter, after all.

"Well," he began again meekly, trying to change the subject, "Come on, let's go put our stuff away."

"Shouldn't we wait for your parents to get back? I mean, I wouldn't want to take a room that your mom was planning to use for something."

"My mom and pop?" Ranma blinked, "They're not coming back here."

"What? Why not?"

"This place is for the guardian of Nerima forest. My pop's not the guardian anymore, so they're probably back at our house in the spirit realm."

"You have another home?" Akane's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, it's where my pop and I stayed in between training trips. Mom had to stay here though to take care of the palace while pop was gone."

Wow, that certainly caught her by surprise. So wait, did that mean that it was just going to be her and Ranma living in this entire place?

... Alone?

A hot blush alit upon her cheeks.

"You OK?" Ranma's face was suddenly right in front of hers, and she was acutely aware of how dangerously close he was, "You got a fever or something?"

"I-Idiot!" she screamed and slapped him away.

"Hey! What was that for?"

Akane refused to meet his gaze as she struggled to hide the blush that only grew deeper the more she thought about the situation. Hurriedly, she gathered her things and decided to go find a room to go and put her things in.

Ranma scratched his head. What had gotten into her?

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully, and soon the sun had begun to set over Nerima.

"There, that should do it!"

Akane wiped her hands proudly as she stepped back to view her handiwork. She had just finished unpacking and arranging her things around the spacious bedroom. Truthfully it was much bigger than she needed, especially since she hadn't that many possessions to begin with. She let out a contented sigh as she fell upon the plush futon. It was incredibly soft, she noted, much softer than the one she had at home.

Well, back at her old home, that was. It was probably going to take a while for her to associate this place with home. It was just so different than what she was used to, but not in a bad way at all. She loved the homely, traditional feel and how the architecture was so deeply ingrained with nature. Upon the paper screens were delicate paintings of mountains and forests, and beautiful flower arrangements decorated most chambers. If only her father, Kasumi, and Nabiki could experience the same contentedness she felt at this moment. Was it possible for them to visit her? Ranma did say this place existed to mortals as well.

It had only been a few hours but she already missed them terribly. Akane wondered how many responsibilities she would have now to maintain the palace. Was it similar to the day-to-day chores she performed at the Tendo shrine? Laundry, cleaning, cooking...

Akane sat up and gulped nervously.

Cooking was... um... something she had not _quite_ mastered yet...

Back home, it had always been Kasumi who took care of that duty. Akane and Nabiki had helped out with every other chore, but cooking was something Kasumi was exceptionally good at so they had always let her handle all kitchen-related matters.

She knew for certain spirits needed to eat, since one of Kasumi's duties was to prepare ritual food offerings to lay upon their shrine. Akane had frequently snuck into the shrine late at night to watch in wonder as the offerings were carried off by various spirits.

Well, exorcisms and rituals were about the same as cooking, right? They all involved getting various materials together, preparing them, and following a set of instructions. So if she just read the instructions then it shouldn't be that hard!

OK, now to find out if Nodoka had written down any recipes for her to use.

Akane stepped out into the hallway and felt it to be eerily quiet. Come to think of it, what was Ranma up to? She had heard his footsteps going up and down the hallway earlier but otherwise there hadn't been any other sounds for several hours. Was he exploring the place still? If he was, she wondered if he had found any scrolls or something Nodoka would have left behind for her.

"Ranma!" she called, "Hey Ranma, where are you?"

There was no answer.

That was odd, but perhaps he was just busy.

The first room she looked into was the one across from hers. It looked to be Ranma's bedroom, as a futon similar to hers had been rolled out and his pack was emptied haphazardly onto the floor. How disorganized! And did he have to choose the room right across from hers, she thought as another hot blush splayed across her cheeks. Surely there were other bedrooms in this palace he could've taken!

She closed the sliding door and went to check the other rooms. There seemed to be what looked like a storage room, a meeting room, another closet... as she kept walking she found that the hallway led into a large, open living area. The tatami looked well-worn, so this was likely where the family would have spent most of their leisure time. The farthest part of the living area opened to a spacious veranda overlooking the palace's inner gardens. Akane marveled at how lovely everything looked at night. Fireflies flickered through the reeds surrounding a koi pond.

"What a beautiful koi," she said as she approached the edge of the pond. A lone fish swam underneath its surface, its amber and ivory scales glistening under the moonlight. As she dipped her fingers in the water, she was surprised to see the koi swim up to her.

"Welcome, divine priestess."

Akane jumped back with a shock. Did that koi just speak to her? Telepathically?

"How...?"

"I am Mamoru, resident to this pond for the past 200 years."

"Mamoru," she repeated, still trying to get over the shock that a koi was speaking to her. But it made sense, since in the mortal world koi fish were regarded to be descended from dragons, divine creatures. So here their divine side would be awakened and able to communicate with her. "My name is Akane, it's nice to meet you."

"Mistress Akane, I look forward to our time together."

"Say, Mamoru, have you seen the newest guardian by any chance? Ranma?"

The fish need not say anything else before a strong gust of wind swept through the garden. A large, dark figure leapt into the air some distance outside of the palace walls. An uneasy feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. A dark spirit?!

"GET BACK HERE!" a familiar voice hollered as he gave chase.

"Ranma?!" Akane shouted. What was going on?

She ran to the outer edge of the garden and jumped over the wall. The further she ventured into the forest, the more she began to notice the air felt slightly darker and more oppressive. She quickly whirled around in time to dodge a strike from another dark spirit, this one shaped like an amorphous wolf-creature.

"Go back from whence you came!" Akane ordered as she produced paper talismans from her kimono. A good priestess always kept these things ready on hand.

The spirit snarled and swiped at her, barely missing her face.

"Akane?!" Ranma said as he noticed the commotion coming from behind, "Go back inside the castle, you're not ready to be out here on your first night!"

"I've told you I can take care of myself!" she shouted back, "Now would you mind telling me what's happening?"

"On full moon nights tainted spirits who manage to escape from the underworld try to use holy sites to sneak into the mortal world. Mom and pop usually kept most of them at bay with a barrier, but now that they're gone the barrier is weakened!"

Tch, just his luck that he and Akane began their duties right on the night of a full moon.

"So all we have to do is exorcise them, right?"

"It's not as easy as it looks!"

Akane steadied her breathing and focused on searching her opponent for an opening. Ah, there! She struck first, flinging a disabling talisman towards it. The spirit jumped back but found out too late that it was a fake-out when Akane reappeared behind it.

"Gotcha!" she said triumphantly as she dealt a swift kick to the spirit's head. It howled in pain and she moved in to finalize the exorcism, muttering incantations and focusing her chi into the finishing blow.

"I told you I can hold my own!" she shot back in defiance.

She was not bad, Ranma thought with surprise.

"Ranma, look out!"

The large demon he had been chasing ripped a tree from its roots and swung it at the forest spirit, knocking him into the koi pond.

Ranma sputtered and grit her teeth as she emerged in her female form, "Why you! Enough is enough!"

Thinking the forest spirit nuisance had been settled, the demon turned his attention to the priestess. Akane narrowed her eyes and steadied her pose. It swiped at her, one claw managing to graze and rip through her sleeve. She hissed in pain and clamped her free hand over the wound, feeling a small amount of blood seeping from it.

"HEY, YOU BIG UGLY! YOUR FIGHT IS WITH ME!"

Ranma charged high into the air and met with the dark spirit again, grappling with it. The demon roared with fury as Ranma held it in a headlock before throwing it over her head and to the ground below. Elsewhere Akane had located several other lesser demons and was doing her best to dispatch them. The demon that Ranma was fighting was huge, she had never seen anything of that size before. It was strong enough to rip a tree out of the ground, for crying out loud! Was Ranma going to be alright?

"METEOR KICK!"

The demon dissipated into a million dark wisps as Ranma pierced through its chest. The wisps faded into the wind, back into the underworld.

"Feh!" Ranma flicked her pigtail nonchalantly behind her, "That guy wasn't even a challenge."

She scanned her surroundings and found her priestess nearby, fending off demon after demon.

"Crap," Akane cursed as she realized she was running out of talismans, "Eep!" she sidestepped just in time for the two demons running at her to collide with each other.

"You can use the leaves, ya know," Ranma's suddenly appeared before her, hanging upside down from the tree Akane stood beneath.

The image of Nodoka and her leaves flashed in Akane's mind. Right, that made sense. As priestess to a forest spirit, she now held affinity for things with earthy or woodsy elements. Grabbing a handful of leaves, Akane tried to focus her energy into them. She wasn't quite sure how to do this and just tried to envision what Nodoka had done.

"GYAH!" Ranma ducked as the leaves turned into razor blades and began flying wildly around, "HEY, DO YA MIND?"

The demons yelped and dissipated as the leaves cut through them and any other who dared to approach. Well, she had to admit, that was one way to get rid of them.

"A-Ah!" Akane panicked, which only served to make the leaves swing about more wildly, "How do I stop it?"

"I dunno! I don't cast spells!" Ranma yelled back, "Why'd you use that spell if you don't know how to control the leaves?!"

"I did the first thing that came to mind!"

"Just try telling them to calm down or something!"

"Telling them to calm down?! Am I supposed to be a leaf whisperer now?!"

"Look, you're the priestess here-GAH!" A leaf whizzed by, shearing off a few millimeters of her pigtail.

Calm thoughts, calm thoughts. Ok, that's enough, it's time to rest. Akane lowered her breath and concentrated on willing the leaves to cease their attack. Finally, as if on cue they all froze at once and drifted harmlessly back down to the forest floor. Feeling the air still again and free from the earlier dark miasma, Akane let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. It felt as if the energy had been all of a sudden sucked from her and she fell to the ground.

"Hey!" Ranma was quick to jump behind and steady her fall, "You OK?"

"I'm fine..." Akane mumbled.

"Alrighty, let's get you back to the palace," the forest spirit sighed and lifted the girl into her arms.

Once safely back within the castle's confines, Ranma placed her gently onto the tatami, making sure to position Akane's head onto a cushion. She inspected the cut on her arm. Thankfully it was not very deep and the wound had already ceased bleeding.

"You should be more careful," the redhead grumbled, "Told you it was a lot to handle for your first night."

"I don't think I did too badly," Akane replied. Honestly she had never fought so many dark spirits at once before, especially nothing as large as the one Ranma had faced. Exorcisms in her old village paled in comparison to this. But they made it out alright, didn't they?

"You... You're not bad," Ranma said as she turned so Akane would not see the slight pink staining her cheeks, "But you still pushed yourself too much." She had to admit that the priestess's determination was admirable. The youngest Tendo proved that she wasn't afraid of leaping straight into battle, which though reckless made Ranma feel somewhat glad. She liked that in a partner.

Glowing orbs floated into the living area from the veranda and materialized into what looked like little logs with short, stubby little twigs for limbs. Some leaves poked out here and there from their bodies, and their "faces" were simple hollows.

"Wood sprites?" Akane said.

The sprites bowed before looking at Ranma as if seeking permission to approach. Ranma gave a silent nod and the sprites rustled among themselves until one stepped forth carrying a treats on a large oak leaf. It waddled forward and placed it beside Akane.

"For us?"

It nodded.

She smiled warmly and gave the sprite a small pat on the head, "Thank you."

There it was again, that soft smile. Ranma found herself leaning closer towards the girl, wondering what about it that made her feel so intrigued...

The sprite bowed once more before returning to its entourage and fading back into glowing orbs. As they floated out the veranda and into the forest, Akane propped herself up on one elbow to inspect what they had been given.

"Kashiwa mochi," she marveled and bit into one. It was delicious!

"They're gifts for helping protect the forest," Ranma explained, plopping one of the round little snacks into her mouth, "They'll help restore your strength."

Akane felt a warmth spreading through her.

Ranma winced as she felt that tell-tale pang of dark energy swirling in her chest again. It was her male side, the body's native spirit, fighting to dominate the cursed side. This only really happened when she was in her female form, and she couldn't really come up with a good explanation why. It wasn't like it was a case of two different people fighting for control of one body - they were the _same_ people! She was still as much Ranma Saotome as she was in male form. She retained the same thoughts, beliefs, motivations, and feelings in either form. So why did it feel like the chi kept wanting to rip itself in half?

"Akane, could you change me back?"

"Huh? Oh right, I suppose so. Could you fetch some water?"

Ranma went to scoop some from the koi pond and Akane raised a brow inquisitively.

"If this is a holy site, why doesn't the water here just turn you back into normal?"

"Water is just water," Ranma shrugged, "It's the same in your world as it is in here or the spirit world. Just like the leaves you and mom used are just normal leaves. Things in both worlds are the same and neutral, it's the spirits or people who live in them that are different. So water that exists here and everywhere else still needs to be manipulated if we want it to do stuff."

"I see..."

Ranma shivered as the water was poured upon him, returning him to his usual form. The tumultuous battle in his chest subsided for now and he breathed a sigh of relief. It still made him uneasy to think about what was going on in his body, but he willed those thoughts from his mind for now.

Blue eyes glanced to the right, where Akane had resettled herself and was resting peacefully. They sat that way for a little while, enjoying the silence and watching the forest sway gently under the moonlight. It was nice being back in the forest of Nerima after all this time, the pig-tailed spirit thought. Even 15 years later the smells and sounds were still so dear and familiar to him. Moving around from location to location with pop had made it difficult to attach any sort of feelings to any one place, except for their home in the ethereal realm, but even then they would only stayed for a few weeks at a time before departing again for another training mission. It was just... sometimes, it felt very lonely...

But now, all that was over. He was officially the forest guardian now, and this was where he would be expected to stay from now until the end of his days unless someone else came along to make him abdicate. But no way on earth or the high heavens that was ever happening. Ranma had worked _way_ too hard for too long for this.

He thought back to everything that had happened over the past 24 hours and what an exhausting series of events it had been. Being told today was the day he would assume the guardian title, finding out he already had a priestess picked out, reuniting with his mother, and then exorcising an entire forest.

Ranma fell back onto the tatami with a tired thud.

Not only had he finally gotten a stable place, but now he also had someone whom he would be sharing it with. Someone who was meant to be his friend and support system through it all. Truth be told he still wasn't totally sure on everything the position of guardian entailed, or the extent of abilities a priest/priestess provided to a guardian, but at least they had plenty of time to discover together.

He and Akane had probably left big impressions on each other, didn't they? Whether that was a good thing or not was something he didn't quite know how to answer yet. She was a tough girl, much tougher than any other mortal girl he had ever encountered. Granted, she was half divine, but given that she had lived her entire life in the mortal world she was essentially currently the same as any other human since her divine blood didn't have a chance to awaken yet. One day was hardly enough to know anything about someone, but he did feel certain that he learned a lot.

And maybe, he thought, he wouldn't mind learning a little bit more.


	5. Kuno

**Chapter Four: Kuno**

Akane was awakened by what sounded like the pitter patter of tiny footsteps upon the tatami. She yawned and stretched her arms overhead, relishing the feel of the plush futon against her skin.

"Morning already?" she grumbled, still teetering back and forth between sleep and consciousness.

The pitter patter began again and a tiny stick prodded her cheek.

"Nngh, OK Kasumi, I'm awake..."

She reached out to stop the offending object and found her hand clasping around a small log. Wait, was this log moving? Akane sat up and stared at the log. It stared back.

"GYAH!" she shrieked, "What in the-?"

The wood sprite shook in fear, wondering what it had done to offend the lady priestess. It looked distressed and Akane felt guilty for worrying the poor thing

"It's ok!" she cooed, "I'm not mad! Don't worry!" Golden light radiated from her fingers, placating the little sprite. After it had calmed, Akane looked at her hand in wonder.

Golden light? Where did this come from? The events from the previous day began to return to her: her birthday, meeting Ranma, moving into the forest palace... So it wasn't a dream after all. Was the light just now another one of her powers as priestess? The wood sprite snuggled happily into her palm. It was really very cute, Akane thought with a smile. She wondered if these sprites had names.

As if sensing her thoughts, the sprite perked up and began gesturing in the air. It did not vocalize anything, yet somehow she could understand it.

"Haru?"

The wood sprite nodded emphatically.

"It's very nice to meet you, Haru!"

Having settled introductions, Akane decided to get up and start her morning routine, whatever that entailed. The little sprite padded along after her and Akane found she did not mind his companionship. After making her way to the bath area and taking care of the normal hygiene issues, she glanced down and noticed she was just wearing her simple, white under robe. Who...?

Lord Ranma brought you to your chambers last night, Haru explained through his motions.

Akane flushed a crimson red, "Was he the one who...?" she gestured to her state of undress.

Haru nodded affirmative.

Ohh, that dirty...! She was going to give him a piece of her mind!

"Show me where he is now," she said, after she had returned to her room and pulled on a happi to protect her modesty.

Haru hopped down the hallway and out of the courtyard. He led her through the gates and around the palace, back to where she and Ranma had fought off those demons last night.

She found him standing at the site where that tree had been uprooted by the large demon. The earth where it once stood was overturned and messy, the roots shredded and gnarled. She felt a twinge of pain, as if it were her own body that had been ripped by the demon. Ranma knelt before the destruction and sunk his hand into the soil.

"Morning," Ranma said as he noticed her approach the scene. His hand began to glow golden and she felt energy flowing beneath her feet.

"What are you doing?"

"The trees are homes for the forest sprites," Ranma explained, "I've gotta restore that little guy's house." He motioned to Haru, who had hopped onto Akane's shoulder to get a better view. The sprite seemed to be brimming with excitement.

They gazed in wonder as a seedling began to sprout in its place. It continued to grow until it reached a sapling about her height, with twiggy little branches and leaves just barely beginning to green. Not nearly as tall and sturdy as the one it had been before, but in a few years with good care it would surely get there. Haru bounded excitedly to his new home and started dancing around it.

"Amazing," Akane whispered. Ranma had created something that would have normally taken quite a long time to grow naturally. How deep was the extent of the forest guardian's power?

"Heh," Ranma felt a sense of pride rising in his chest, "Yeah, I guess I am pretty amazing after all!"

"Don't let it get to your head," Akane replied flatly. She then remembered what she wanted to confront him about.

"Hey, last night, were you the one who...?" she gestured to her knees, where the thin, transparent kimono slip was visible from beneath her happi.

"Who what?" he blinked blankly.

"Who _undressed_ me!"

"What?" he said incredulously, "What's wrong with that? You didn't want to be sleeping in your full kimono, did you?"

"That's not the point!"

"I don't get why you're being so uptight about it," Ranma crossed his hands behind his head, "Besides, it's not like it's anything I haven't seen before-OOF!"

Akane's shoulders heaved in anger as she chucked her sandal at Ranma's face. Haru dutifully went to retrieve it for her.

"Thank you," she took the sandal from him in exchange for a friendly pat.

"Why can't you be more like that more often," Ranma grumbled, rubbing his sore nose. Seriously, what was the big deal? He had tried to do her a courtesy and then he got a shoe to the face. But that little sprite barely did anything and she practically treated it like royalty.

He just wanted to help make her feel more comfortable, after all. Speaking of which...

"Oh yeah," Ranma motioned for her to follow him, "I wanted to show you something. C'mon."

"Show me what?"

"You'll see."

She wondered if it was going to be something related to her training, or maybe a new duty she was supposed to fill. Did Nodoka leave behind any instructions, by the way? She made a note to ask Ranma later if he was aware of any such records she should be looking through. As they entered the front garden, Akane found herself surrounded by a lovely scent.

She gasped when she realized there were so many more bushels of the red flowers from yesterday.

"Where did all these come from?" she asked with wonder, her fingers trailing along the delicate petals, "Did they just bloom overnight?"

"I grew them this morning," Ranma shrugged.

"You did this? What made you decide to grow all these flowers?"

"You liked them, didn't you?"

Huh?

"Yesterday you looked happy when you smelled them, so I planted more for you."

He did this... for her?

For some reason, she felt her heartrate quicken.

"You... Y-You idiot," Akane mumbled, "You don't have to do stuff like this..."

" _Idiot_? That's the thanks I get?" Ranma crossed his arms over his chest, "Well remind me never to give you anything ever again!"

"No, that's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean?"

"I..." Akane trailed off, unsure of how to articulate the complex mix of emotions blossoming in her chest. "I... No, they're beautiful thank you, but it's just... w-when you, it makes me..."

Her blush only deepened further with each word she struggled to say.

"Akane?"

Ranma leaned his face close to hers, trying to figure out what had suddenly gotten into the young priestess.

Were his eyes always this blue? So deep, like the ocean...

"I... I-I'm going to go make breakfast!"

She whirled around with a speed faster than anything Ranma had thought physically possible and marched back towards the palace. Haru frantically hobbled along after her.

All the forest spirit could do was simply stare in disbelief. Seriously, this girl's reaction made no sense. Well, granted, he didn't have that much personal experience with others since pretty much all of his life up until this point was training with his pop. He had made a few acquaintances along the way, but maybe there was some nuance of social interaction he had missed? He searched her aura for answers and was surprised at what he found.

She was not displeased at all, in fact her energy was bright and positive. Firey and anxious, but no hint of darkness or negativity. So she did like the flowers? That made Ranma feel a small sense of pride and accomplishment. That darn Akane! If she was happy then she should've just said so. What was that reaction all about?

His stomach let out a deep growl.

Well, no sense in trying to think on an empty stomach. He decided to head back in and get ready for breakfast.

* * *

Haru shivered in fear as the lady priestess clamored through the kitchen area with all the fury of a calamitous tempest. Bits and pieces of vegetables flew through the air as she swung her chopsticks wildly around, barely registering what she was adding to a large pot hanging over the fire.

"Who does he think he is!" Akane yelled, annoyed that she felt so flustered, "Who asked him to do such a thing anyway?"

It was then she noticed the scared little wood sprite huddling behind an earthenware jar. Akane looked down at the carnage of her preparation area and flushed with embarassment.

"Sorry," she said meekly, "I didn't mean to scare you."

Haru peeked out from behind his hiding spot and made a few gestures.

"No, I'm not upset," Akane replied, "It's just... I don't know. I guess I'm confused on how to describe what I'm feeling right now. Nobody has ever really done something like that for me before."

She never really received any gifts from her fellow villagers, especially not from any boys. Kuno had forbade it since nobody was allowed to get close to his "intended bride" not that Akane would ever under any circumstances agree to marry such a slime ball. He had brought her flowers on several occasions but they were always in such gaudy arrangements and followed by incessant flirtations. A wave of disgust washed over her as she thought about how she had to meet him later today. Tatewaki Kuno had never had any respect for her wishes, no concept of boundaries, and only did things that suited his own interests with no regard for anyone else. She hated that kind of person the most.

Time and time again she had turned him down, and when he became more forceful she began to fight back. But every time she beat him, he still would not get the message and instead began to see it as a strange form of flirtation. Like she was purposefully putting up a challenge to play hard to get. So then Tatewaki Kuno declared himself the only rightful match for Akane Tendo, and if any other man wished to claim her hand then he would have to prove he could best her in combat.

Which then lead to a constantly annoying situation whenever she entered the village. Truth be told she could not tell if the boys that attacked her actually did have feelings for her, if they only wanted to fulfill the challenge for the sake of beating Kuno, or if they were just hired by him to increase her perceived "desirability". Either way, it was despicable.

So, when Ranma had told her he grew all those flowers for her, she was completely caught off guard. How was she supposed to react?

She remembered how deep and blue his eyes were, like the ocean, full of pride and goodwill. He really did mean them as a gift, no ulterior motives attached. He was honestly trying to be nice to her, wasn't he? She thought back to how Haru said Ranma carried her to her room and took the trouble to remove her kimono and make sure she was comfortable. While it still wasn't right for him to undress her without her consent, especially since they were still essentially strangers at this point, she did believe that he only meant well.

Akane suddenly felt quite guilty about her behavior. She decided she to apologize over breakfast and try to start fresh. She hadn't meant to be so confusing. Really, she just didn't know what her own body was trying to say about all of this.

A loud clanging interrupted her from her thoughts. Haru was hopping with panic in front of the pot which was boiling over from being left untended.

"Ack!" Akane rushed to remove it from the flame, "Oh no, I hope it's not ruined!"

To be honest she wasn't quite sure exactly what she made. She had been vaguely shooting for miso soup, but the concoction in front of her looked very much like... not miso soup. Well, maybe it was much better than it looked?

"Yo, Akane!" Ranma called from the other room, "Is breakfast ready yet? I'm starving!"

"Just about!" she called back. She ladled the soup into bowls while Haru scooped rice from another pot. Akane was growing quite fond of the little guy. He made for an excellent and adorable helper.

As she was about to carry the food out, Haru tugged on her sleeve.

"Bless the food? How do I do that?"

Haru started imitating what he had seen Nodoka do before and Akane did her best to replicate his instructions. The food glowed briefly and seemed just a bit brighter before. Apparently for the food to restore a spirit's strength, it needed to be offered a certain way else it would have no effect. This was similar to how Ranma required water to be ritually purified in order to turn him back into his normal form. It also made sense why food meant for spirits had to be placed in special shrines and given a certain set of prayers. Caring for a forest spirit was a bit more complicated than she thought.

She and Haru made their way to the dining area where Ranma sat in anticipation.

"What'd you make?"

"There's miso soup, rice, and some tsukemono I found that your mom had prepared. I don't really have a lot of cooking experience, but I hope it's alright."

"Looks pretty chunky for miso soup," Ranma felt the hair on his neck start to rise warily. He had never seen anything like it. Was it a regional style specific to her village or something?

He raised the bowl and glanced over at Haru, silently asking if it really was OK to eat. The wood sprite just shrugged.

"Itadakimasu," he muttered. Well, here goes nothing...

"I thought maybe adding some extra vegetables would fortify the taste," Akane tried to recollect exactly what she had done, "And Kasumi said that miso paste contains all the flavor, so I added quite a bit to make sure it had plenty of flavor, and-"

"PBFFT!"

Ranma spat the contents of what he just ingested all over the low table and fell over with a thud.

"Ranma!" Akane dropped down in panic beside him, "What's wrong?"

The spirit was unresponsive. His skin had turned a pale, green pallor, and his body felt so stiff and rigid. His expression was that of shock. What was happening? A seizure?

"Hello?" she waved a hand in front of his face, "Anyone in there?"

Haru hurried over and dumped a cup of water over his face to try and rouse the spirit. Female Ranma sat up sputtering and disoriented.

"Where am I?"

"Are you alright? You spilled your breakfast. Do you want another bowl?"

Another bowl? The red-haired girl looked at the concoction before her and remembered what had happened.

"T-This... this soup..." her voice wavered as she picked up the bowl once more, "How... How can this be?"

How what? Ranma's tone sounded incredulous. Was she surprised because it was so good? Akane started to feel a sense of hope and joy. Had she done it? Had she really managed to cook something normal after all?! Or maybe not just normal, but amazing? Oh, Kasumi would be so proud!

"How can this be so... so BAD!"

And just like that Akane's dreams shattered like a porcelain vase off a cliff.

Ranma ran into the garden and began retching.

"Uuugh," she groaned and clutched her stomach. This pain was unlike anything she had ever felt before, "I-I think it was actually _draini_ _ng_ my life force..."

Akane was indignant. What was with that reaction? It couldn't have been _that_ bad! ... Was it? She lifted her own bowl to her lips and took a sip.

Ok maybe yes it was.

Akane joined Ranma in her retching. Haru glanced worriedly at the pair and hopped over with the rice and tsukemono. Maybe this will help, it urged.

"D-Did... Did Akane make this?" Ranma whispered weakly.

Haru shook his head no.

Ranma grabbed the bowl and ate with reckless abandon. Ahh, much better.

"What's the big idea, Akane?" the redhead glared, "Why'd you wanna poison me?"

"Poison you?" Akane struggled to pull herself together, "I was just trying my best!"

"Something that terrible had to be poisoned on purpose!"

"I swear! Why would I want to poison you anyway?! If I did that then I'd be breaking my vow!"

"So..." Ranma trailed off in horror, "You really are that bad in the kitchen? I've never seen anything so unladylike..."

Akane could scarce stifle her rage. Her femininity had always been a sore spot for her. She knew she had faults enough with her temper and her inability to cook, but she was still trying her best! She had grown her hair out and tried to avoid fights less and less. It was a lot of effort but it would be worth it if _he_ could finally see her as a woma-

She froze.

Oh... that's right... it didn't even matter now. Even if someday through some miracle he did, she would be unable to reciprocate. She had already made a soul-binding vow to the pig-tailed spirit before her, which meant she could make no other such vows if not to her.

Ranma noticed that Akane's aura had become dampened and murky. Was she upset? Had she gone too far?

Maybe you should apologize, Haru suggested.

"Apologize?" Ranma scoffed, "For what? I was being honest, and if she can't handle that then we're gonna have bigger problems."

But at least she tried, the sprite retorted, maybe she's new to it and needs time to learn.

"I'm going to go back to the village now," Akane's tone was dejected as she left the garden. She still had the Kuno problem to take care of before the day was over, and right now beating him up sounded like a great way to distract her from her current train of thought.

"Hey," Ranma hurried after her, "Why're you going to the village?" Was it because she wanted to return home because she had made her so unhappy? The image of a vengeful, demon Soun flashed through her mind, making her shudder. Maybe Haru was right and she should say something.

"Wait, stop! Look, I didn't mean... Um, you're not leaving already because you're upset, right?"

Akane quirked a brow in confusion at her. Why the sudden change in demeanor? Granted, she was a bit upset at the insults, but she wasn't _that_ sensitive to the point where she would abandon her duties after a little bickering.

"No, I have to go speak to that guy Kuno, remember?"

Oh, that was right. In a way Ranma felt a bit of relief. But she wanted to follow along anyway, just for peace of mind.

"Wait up, I'm coming too!"

"I told you that you don't need to, I can handle Kuno fine on my own."

"Well, I'm not coming because of that," Ranma tried to find an acceptable excuse, "I'm just gonna go look for food offerings to get that taste out of my mouth."

"Fine, but don't draw too much attention, OK?"

"Can you change me back first?"

Akane rolled her eyes.

* * *

"Akane Tendo is here!"

"Where?"

"Look over on the main road, she's coming!"

"Who is that man with her?"

The marketplace was bustling with many families and individuals doing their mid-morning shopping. At the arrival of the aforementioned duo, many stopped to get a closer look at the strange man accompanying Akane. Quite a large crowd of men emerged from the woodwork and stood blocking the path. Akane narrowed her eyes and assumed a defensive stance.

"Geez," Ranma whistled, "Are all these guys here to greet you? Does this always happen when you go into town?"

"Yes," Akane said with chagrin. To her surprise, however, the boys of the village did not move. They whispered amongst each other in hushed tones before one boy who she recognized as Daichi stepped forward.

"Akane," he said with tears in his eyes, "On behalf of the single men in this village, we humbly accept our defeat and wish you happiness in the years to come."

Defeat?

"Your family sent word this morning that you have taken your vows as a priestess and will be leaving the village. Our only regret was that we were not able to win your heart before then."

All these guys had been trying to court her? Huh. She seemed to be pretty popular, to Ranma's surprise. Did these guys know about her temper? Or her inability to cook? What could possibly have drawn them to her? He tried to think of at least one redeeming feature that would be even remotely attractive.

Her smiling face crossed his mind. Well, maybe when she smiled she did look very cu... Wait, nope, he was not about to admit that the tomboy beside him was cute. Absolutely not.

"Who are you, sir?" an elderly gentleman approached Ranma with curiosity, "I feel as if I have seen your face before, and that pig-tail... Do you happen to know a panda by any chance?"

Ranma gulped when he remembered the marketplace fiasco yesterday, when he had tried to run from his pop.

"Uhh, nope, you must have the wrong person!"

"Oh my mistake," the man nodded, "In any case, what is your name young man? Are you accompanying Miss Tendo?"

"Ranma Saotome, at your service! I'm the guardian of-"

"He meant to say my co-priest!" Akane hurriedly clamped a hand over his mouth, "He is from the shrine I am now a part of!"

"Is that so? Pardon me but where is this new shrine that you are moving to? I don't believe your father told us where it is, and it would be nice if we could come visit you whenever we are in the area."

He gestured over to where his wife and adult child were manning their fruit stall. They waved back happily.

"How have you been, Akane? It's been a while!"

"You should stop by and have tea with us before you leave, dear!"

Several other villagers began to crowd around Akane, offering her gifts and wishing her well in her new shrine. She felt her heart grow heavy. With all the commotion of recent events she realized she hadn't had time to truly sit down and think about how different her days would be on this point on. All these people she had grown up with and who had become such an integral part of her daily life, would she still be able to check up on them once she settled into her duties? Would they start to forget about her if she was gone too long?

Ranma sensed Akane's aura become more somber. He wondered what was troubling her. Wasn't she happy to be seeing all these people?

"Akane! Ranma!"

They looked over to see a familiar face approaching. Oh good, a distraction.

"Nabiki!" Akane ran to greet her older sister, "How are father and Kasumi?"

"Father is still inconsolable at your absence and Kasumi is getting along," Nabiki shrugged. She looked over her shoulder to see Ranma standing awkwardly to the side, wondering why everyone was staring and whispering in hushed tones. "Good to see you again, forest guardian!"

"Shh!" the youngest Tendo hissed, "You can't go around announcing that the deity they worship is standing here right before them! It'll cause chaos in the village!"

"Hmm, that's an interesting point," Nabiki pondered, "Ranma, why is it that everyone is able to see you? Most of the spirits that visited our shrines had no shape or were just orbs of light."

"Oh," Ranma puffed his chest proudly, "That's because the more powerful a spirit is, the more able it is able to retain its shape when crossing into the mortal world. I happen to be a pretty powerful spirit if I do say so myself!"

"Cocky one, isn't he?"

"Yep..."

"Anyway," Nabiki turned back to Akane, "Are you off to Kuno's? I'll walk with you. I have some business with him anyway."

"What kind of business?"

"You'll see," Nabiki winked.

Somehow Akane had a very bad feeling about that.

* * *

They approached a large estate at the very south of the village directly opposite of the Tendo shrine. It seemed to be extremely luxurious and contrasted heavily with the more simplistic style of the rest of the village. Ranma noted it had a very tropical feel about it due to the many foreign plants decorating its grounds. The owner of this estate must have traveled a lot to garner such a large collection of exotic flora.

"Your boy Kuno seems to be a pretty important guy," Ranma observed.

"One, he is not my boy," Akane shivered with disgust, "Two, he's the son of the village head. But he just thinks of himself as more important than he really is. You'll see."

"Miss Akane Tendo!" a small ninja at the front bowed in greeting, "Miss Nabiki Tendo, and...?"

"Hello Sasuke," Akane replied, "This is our friend Ranma Saotome. I've come to answer Kuno's summon."

"Yes, right this way."

The group was led through the gates and around the property to a lone building off to one side. This was Kuno's personal dojo where he often trained in the art of swordsmanship, among other things...

"Ah, Akane Tendo," a man in hakama and gi sat cross-legged before a large scroll bearing a full-sized portrait of a certain familiar priestess, "You are more radiant today than the sun itself. How much you have bloomed since you have come of age. I, Tatewaki Kuno, must now ask for your delicate hand in marriage..."

"He still worships that picture of me?" Akane felt as if she were going to hurl for the second time that day.

"Every day, miss."

Ranma stared flabbergasted at what he was seeing. A man who looked about Nabiki's age sat in the front of the dojo where a shrine had been set up. But this was no ordinary shrine. In fact, it was nothing like anything he had ever seen before, because instead of being dedicated to a particular deity or spirit this shrine was a collection of items related entirely to Akane Tendo.

There were several scrolls bearing paintings of her hanging upon the wall, along with what looked like miscellaneous trinkets and things that might have been at one time somehow related to Akane. There was a broken bamboo training sword beneath a sketch of an angry looking Akane beating the man with said sword. Then there was a lock of her hair, a piece of kimono, a broken sandal string... Did this guy hire artists to follow Akane and paint their interactions or something? How... How... Ranma struggled to find a word to convey the depths of his disgust.

"Oi, Kuno baby!" Nabiki yelled, "I've brought you a real treat today!"

"What could you possibly have that would interest me, Nabiki Tendo?" Kuno rose from his position with exaggerated grace. It was then that Ranma finally got a good look at him. He looked to be about as tall as him, though the older man sported a brunette pompadour that added a couple inches. His face was... well, a face. Ranma didn't care too much to be judging another guy's looks. But he did note that he had a muscular, athletic physique, probably from practicing with that katana at his side.

Nabiki thrust a small clay pot at Kuno's chest.

"A pot of dirt?" he blinked blankly.

"Not just any old dirt!" Nabiki's voice lowered enticingly, "This is special dirt. It happened to come from the very ground Akane was standing on yesterday when she turned 18!"

"Is she serious?" Ranma deadpanned, "No way anyone would ever just buy some dirt like-"

"How much?"

Ranma nearly fell over.

"The very soil that Akane's feet touched upon her ascension to womanhood," Kuno cried as he held the dirt to his chest, "I will treasure this forever!"

Nabiki returned with a triumphant smirk as she jingled a pouch now full of coin.

"Quit feeding his weirdness," Akane wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Helps pay our living expenses," Nabiki shrugged and tucked her earnings away.

Ranma couldn't believe what he was seeing. Her own sister was encouraging this creep? "Is she really your family?"

Akane sighed dejectedly before straightening her shoulders again and marching into the dojo.

"Kuno!" she announced in a stern tone, "I'm here to answer your summons!"

"Beautiful Akane!" he exclaimed. The goddess was finally before him! "How I have missed you since our last meeting! You are more radiant today than the sun itself-"

"Back off, creep!" Akane punched him square in the jaw before he could complete his intended embrace. He always used those same stupid lines. She hoped against hope that today would finally be the day he would leave her alone for good. It would have to be, right? There wasn't any way he could follow her back into Nerima forest, that guy was more spiritually dense than... than... well honestly there wasn't anything as low as to compare to him.

"Was this guy your fiance or what?" Ranma appeared beside her, surveying the damage. The girl could pack a punch.

Akane visibly gagged.

"NOT my fiance! Not now and certainly not in any other lifetime to come!"

"You there!" Kuno straightened himself, unaware of the profuse nosebleed that had resulted from Akane's punch. He drew his weapon and pointed the blade at the offender, "You are awfully familiar with Lady Akane! Identify yourself!"

"Me? I'm Ranma Saotome," he answered, wondering why Kuno even cared, "Akane is serving as a priestess under me now."

It was like a bolt of lightning had suddenly struck the trainee samurai.

What?

 _What?_

Akane? Serving? His delicate, precious Akane? Serving another man?"

Images flooded through his mind of a scantily clad Akane, weeping and shackled by every limb. A tyrannical Ranma stood before her, tugging the chains harshly causing her to cry out in pain.

 _"Help me, Master Kuno! You're my only hope!"_

 _"Quit crying, slave! Soon I will take your body for myself and nobody can save you then! MWAHAHA!"_

 _"Noooo!"_

"Is this guy serious?!" Ranma swatted the offending thought bubbles away, "It's not anything like-WOAH!"

"You CRETIN!" Kuno roared and swung his katana with reckless abandon, "Release her at once so she may become my bride!"

"Kuno baby," Nabiki yawned disinterestedly, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Hey slow down!" Ranma yelped, "You've got the wrong idea! Believe me I couldn't do that even if I wanted-"

"LIAR! I will slay you and free her!"

"Didn't this guy hear anything I just said?"

"I told you to let me handle it!" Akane yelled back. What a headache this had turned into.

"Well you are welcome to step in and handle it at any time!" Ranma continued to dodge swipe after swipe, which truthfully wasnt difficult to do given that this Kuno guy wasn't as skilled as he let on. They carried their fight out of the dojo and into the courtyard.

"Kuno! Leave him out of this!" Akane ran to stand before him and Ranma, "I'm here to tell you that I can never marry you or anyone else for that matter!"

Kuno froze momentarily before his expression darkened once more.

"My dear Akane, he has poisoned your mind!"

Seriously?!

"I'm telling the truth! I made my vows yesterday to become priestess to Nerima forest!" she held up her hand to demonstrate the red ring encircling her pinky, "Because of that, I can make no soul-binding vows to anyone or anything else!"

A ring?! Kuno dropped his katana and inspected the silk cord, which was tied in a traditional sacred knot. Oh no, didn't a ring mean a p... p-proposal?! But wait, didn't she say he was a...

He turned to Ranma, "You are a forest?"

There really was no getting through to him.

"Is this young man the guardian spirit of Nerima?" Sasuke's expression changed in realization. He had been watching the scene quietly until now.

Before his family had come to Furinkan village, he had lived in a quiet town at the base of Mount Fuji. His ancestors frequently told tales of how sacred sites all throughout Japan were guarded by powerful spirits who could sometimes appear among the villagers. He remembered how a specific tribe young men and women from his village would train their entire lives and offer themselves to the spirit of Mount Fuji, hoping one day to become its priest or priestess. The ultimately declaration of faith.

So if this Ranma was truly the guardian of Nerima, then attacking him was an inexplicably grave sin!

"Lord Kuno, please stop! This man is-!"

"Ay!" a tanned man barked from a higher balcony, "Quiet down there!"

"Stay out of this, father! This is a fight between evil and justice!"

A bucket of water was hurled onto their heads.

"Take that ya noisy kids!" Chief Tatewaki sneered.

"Gyah!" Ranma found himself once more in female form. Great, the second time today!

"Curse you father," Kuno grumbled as he struggled to wipe the water from his eyes. He could make out a shadow moving in the distance. That scoundrel Ranma! Was he meaning to attack while his opponent was still blinded? Well, Tatewaki Kuno would not so easily be caught off guard!

Kuno charged but immediately slipped on the floor now slick from all the water. As he fell, he flailed wildly about and managed to catch onto something soft and round.

He looked up and found his hand on the breast of a very infuriated, strange, red-haired woman.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!"

Ah, so she had a fighting spirit. That was very attractive indeed. In fact, the more he gazed at her, the more he noticed that his strange woman had many attractive features about her...

Kuno knelt before her on one knee and took her hands in his.

"Who are you, beautiful pig-tailed goddess?"

Oh no. Did he just...? Ranma suddenly felt the urge to purge herself in a vat of boiling water. Akane stared in disbelief and disgust. Well, on the bright side, maybe this meant Kuno would finally relinquish his attentions towards her and focus on someone else. Poor Ranma, she thought. Please suffer through this for her sake.

"None of your business!" Ranma launched him away with a kick strong enough to send him through a wall.

"I see you are as modest as dear Akane," Kuno returned unfazed, though disheveled and bruised. Honestly how was this guy still standing? "Pig-tailed girl, you are more radiant than the sun itself. I, Tatewaki Kuno, must now ask for your delicate hand in marriage."

"GET LOST!" Ranma plunged Kuno's head deep into the ground like an ostritch. His voice was muffled as he struggled to pull himself from the earth.

The thought of being any longer in this creep's presence filled her with revulsion.

"That's enough! We're done here!" Ranma growled and gave Kuno another stomp for good measure. Akane saw Ranma storming towards her, aura ablaze. The spirit grabbed her priestess by the wrist with such force it almost made her stumble.

"Let's get out of here, Akane!" Ranma's tone left little room for her to say otherwise, not that she minded. She wanted to be out of this place just as quickly if not more than Ranma.

Before they left, however, Ranma turned once more toward the dojo and made her way towards the front where Kuno's shrine to Akane stood.

"Anything goes worship special technique: cavernous appetite!"

She slammed her foot on the floor, causing a pillar to erupt through the floorboards and hurl the shrine into the air. The pillar then split apart to reveal a deep, gaping tunnel that swallowed the artifacts of the shrine as they fell back down. Satisfied, the pillar closed itself once more and returned to the earth, leaving behind remnants of the dojo's floorboards and walls in its wake.

Sasuke shuddered in fear at the sight before him. This was the true power of a guardian spirit...

"Tatewaki Kuno!" Ranma yelled a warning to all who could hear, "You stay away from Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo, ya hear?! If you dare come anywhere near us again I _swear_ I'll do much worse to you than this!"

She then turned expectantly to Akane, "Ok, now get us out of here."

Ranma waited expectantly for the golden leaves to transport them away but nothing happened. She looked over and saw confused, brown eyes staring back at her. Oh right, Akane probably hadn't learned recall spells yet. That was mildly embarrassing.

"Nevermind, we'll just exit through the front..."

As they left the estate, Nabiki went to kneel beside Kuno who had finally managed to wrench his head free from the earth.

"Poor Kuno baby," she chided as she watched him gasp for breath, "I told you not to try and fight him."

Kuno looked around wildly wondering where his opponent had gone. Nabiki figured he probably hadn't heard a single word of what just went on since his head was buried so deep in the ground.

"That Saotome bastard disappeared in the middle of our fight!" Kuno stood with clenched fists, "And then dared to hide behind that innocent pig-tailed goddess! He is a coward!"

Nabiki sighed and decided to take her leave then. It was too much effort trying to explain these things to Kuno.

"Wait, Nabiki Tendo, before you depart," his voice lowered, "Tell me, who was that pig-tailed goddess?"

"That girl?" she blinked, "She's Ranma's other half."

"Other... half?"

She could see the gears struggling to turn in Kuno's head. Really there was no use reasoning with him. Well, better to get out of here now before he gets any other crazy ideas and bombards her with more questions.

Long after Nabiki had departed Kuno continued to stand rooted in one spot, trying to make sense of her words.

Other half... wasn't that a term reserved for one's significant other? So did this mean that the pig-tailed goddess was in a relationship with that despicable, coward Ranma? But hold on a minute, didn't he also force Akane into marriage with him? How could he have a relationship with both the goddess and Akane unless... No, that cretin! HOW DARE HE! He was two-timing both the pig-tailed goddess and Akane Tendo! Kuno would not stand for this injustice!

"I WILL FREE HER! Beautiful Akane Tendo, wait for me!" he roared, "I will save you from the demon's clutches! And the pig-tailed goddess! I will bring the bastard Ranma to his knees and protect your feminine modesty!"

Sasuke thought briefly about trying to talk the young master out of his decision. Didn't he see how the dojo had been destroyed? And how badly he had been beaten? There was no way any sensible person would dare incur the wrath of a forest spirit, and there was no way Sasuke wanted to be complicit in any of this.

... On second thought, it was probably a good time to start looking for a new job.


End file.
